My sweet little life...

Fall/Winter 2011

2012-01-30T17:17:00.015-05:00

I can't believe that here it is February and I'm now just updating our blog on our fall activities..

It was a very busy season for us and now that winter is almost coming to an end I guess I will be updating that season as well... I'll admit I'm just not made to blog but it is fun to look back and see how much the kids change etc and what we were up to during that time in our life.

The kids have been taking gymnastics at Wendy's and they absolutely love it! They have class on tuesdays and then open gym on fridays, which is a lifesaver for me especially since the weather is so cold. This is Norah's first time being in a class and she thinks she is so big! They love warming up to the Fresh Beat Band "Here we go" and The Happy Feet song "Hit Me Up" they love jumping into the foam pit from the trampoline. They are both so excited when it's time for gymnastics.
Daddy took Lucy to one of the OSU games, it was funny listening to him try and pump her up for the game. I think this picture is so adorable of the two of them!

My sweet little kiddies, Lucy and Norah, I love that they are such good buddies.

My sister, Sarah, came out with her 3 kids and my mom to visit for a couple of days in October. It was so fun to hang out and let the kids play together. This picture was at the Windermere Halloween Party, we were on the Haunted Hayride and it was sweet!

Of course when Grandma Judy comes we have to make a trip to Chuck E Cheese.. the kids LOVE it!

I took all of the little munchkins to church on sunday and it was quite the party!

Dave had a week off in October so we decided to check out Destin, Florida. We stopped half way in Nashville and went exploring a night. I love the Grand Ole Opry, love love love country music so it was kind of fun to see it in real life. We also celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year so decided that we would count this trip as a getaway.

Destin Beaches are amazing! White soft sand, it was so fun to go down to the beach and the kids loved it too! The weather was perfect, nice and warm!

We did lots of exploring, eating, shopping, sleeping, playing, relaxing, and hanging out which we all needed.

Burying dad in the sand..

Lucy got a turn..

Norah got a turn as well!

Forget the sandy swimsuit, just strip down and shower! I can't say I blamed her! I love this picture!!

Swimming, swimming, and more swimming.. the place we stayed was great! It had a separate family pool/hot tub so we took full advantage and sometimes even went multiple times a day. The kids loved it! The weather couldn't have been better either.

Hitching a ride to the hotel.. so happy!

Halloween and pumpkin carving, pretty sweet pumpkins!

Ariel and Scooby Doo trick or treating with mom and dad, Swansea is where it's at!

Bridal shower for Jen while in Utah, fun stuff! (See more wedding pics already posted).

Trip to Tuttle Mall to see Santa Claus and get reindeer hats.. food court and shuttle play area, always a great day activity!

Kids waiting patiently to get on the plane to go to Utah for Jen's wedding. They were awesome and really are such good little travelers.

Norah holding baby Landon, (Candice's baby) she loves him sooooo much! I'm going to have my hands full with a new baby around our house in a week.. I'm afraid she may be more help than I'd like :)

I came home from work one night, so tired, and just wanted to sleep but my bed was being hogged, I managed to squeeze in.

Lucy helping me make christmas cookies for neighbors and friends.. what a good little helper!

I saw this in the hall hanging by Lucy's classroom, cant get over how cute she writes. Looks like she likes strawberries (strobres)!

Lucy at her Christmas party before her 2 week break!

Norah joined the party as well and decorated a cookie too.

This is Lucy's latest place she wants to sleep, on the love sac.. in the hall... Yeah, its not a fire hazard at all! Bunk beds are up now and the girls have been really good about sleeping in them.

Daddy's birthday celebration, Chinese restaurant for dinner, brownies and ice cream, and dance party with his girls to complete the night. Can't believe we are both 32! Yikes, we are getting old. I love you EZO! Happy Birthday!

Lucy and Norah on Christmas Eve in their new pj's from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Jim.

I love this note from Lucy complete with snacks for Santa. Christmas was so fun this year, they are such fun ages and got so excited with everything.

Lucy picked this present out for Norah, they both love Big Time Rush! Norah was so excited when she opened it!

Barbies from Grandma and Grandpa Ludlow, which they love and play with daily!

Columbus folk over for Christmas dinner..

Santa brought a kitchen for the girls this year, I love that Norah gets a chair to stand on. I am sure she sees me stand on stools and chairs in our kitchen so she thinks it's cool.

I took them to this trampoline bounce house place during Christmas break and they loved it! What a great idea! I need one of these at my house, it would entertain them for hours!

We started potty training Norah around New Years... she would not stay dressed for some reason and was wired at midnight when the ball dropped. Dave and I just laughed.. Lucy was sound asleep and missed the party. Happy 2012!

Dave, Andy Smock, and Jeff Wilson celebrating their residency hump day, 2 1/2 years to go... seems like forever but it will go by so fast and he will be done and working before we know it. Ah, can't wait!

Norah sitting on the potty playing with her princess cell phone... wonder where she gets that from hmmmm

We got the girls bunkbeds in hopes they would sleep in them and not end up in our bed or on the love sac in the hallway every night, plus with the baby coming and using the crib the girls both needed their own beds. They have worked out great so far and the girls have loved them. Lucy sleeps on the top and Norah on the bottom. They love to take books and toys into bed with them and they play until they fall asleep most nights. They are also convertible so we can use them as twin beds as well if we need to in the future.

That pretty much sums up our last couple of months up in a few words/pictures.. baby girl #3 will be here on Friday the 10th, which is this week! We are so excited for her to come and will post pics once I'm up and going. I can't believe it is finally here! I'm so excited for it to all be over with and have her to hold and love. Yay!!!

Clark weddings 2011

2012-01-22T23:54:00.012-05:00

My 2 youngest siblings were married this past fall. Sean (2nd to youngest brother) married Megan Prestwich on November 4th in the Draper temple. I went out alone for his wedding and had major anxiety about leaving the kids behind but they survived and loved being with daddy while I was gone. This picture is of all of my siblings minus Candice since she had a baby just the day before.. I missed her :(

Classic temple picture of everyone that came to the temple, this is combining all of Megan's family with mine.

My sis in law, Holly, me, Jen and Sarah (my sisters) Jess and Ashlee (other sis in laws) waiting for them bride and groom to come out of the temple.. it was a nice sunny day but windy and cold. So happy to have Megan in the family, she is a very nice addition. They had a reception at The Blue Lemon that evening and then took off for a cruise. I stayed the weekend and hung out with my family, it was a great little break for me. It was so fun to see everyone and hang out since I hadn't been back since the spring but I sure missed Dave and the kiddies though! I think I was 25 weeks pregnant in this picture..

On November 17th, my baby sister, Jen, got married. She married Jordan (surprise surprise, haha) the love of her life in the Salt Lake City, Utah temple. She and Jordan have known each other for a long time and knew that they wanted to be married someday. He has pretty much been a part of the family for many years so we are very lucky, he is a huge sweetheart! Here is a pic of me and Jen and my sweet 27 week baby bump.

It was such a cool experience to all be in the temple for Jen's wedding.. so thankful for such an awesome family! I had such a overwhelming feeling of peace as I looked around at my whole family there in the temple together and knowing that we are an eternal family and that we will always be together. I had the kids this time around but really missed Dave.. I wish he could've been there. This picture has all 8 of us kids plus mom and dad.. Sam, Candice, Adam, Mom, Dad, Jen, Sarah, Sean, me, and Jake.

My cute sisters... Sarah, Jen, Candice, and me :) Do we look like sisters?

This picture has all of the adults plus a couple of the kids that came up to the wedding.. Dave's parents kept my kids so that I didn't have to worry about them running around and being crazy so a big thank you to them and also to my sister in law and family for taking them while we went to the temple and dinner the night before.

Another classic temple picture of everyone there.

Me and my sweet little girls! Can't wait to add a 3rd!

I thought this picture was so cute of Norah and Jenny kissing.. my kids love their Aunt Jenny!

My sweet mom and Jen, I love them both so much!

Jen and the bros.. Jake, Adam, Sean, and Sam.

Jen, Jordan, and all of the grandkids.. our baby will make a total of 15.

We always love an excuse to go back to Utah and visit so thanks to my brother and sister for choosing 2 separate weeks in the same month to get married.. we had so much fun spending time with everyone and catching up! Can't believe every one in the family is married.. pretty awesome!

Lucy goes to Kindergarten!

2011-09-03T00:31:00.007-04:00

I can't believe my little Luce the goose is in Kindergarten! Where did the time go? She seems to really like it so far. She gets on the bus happy and gets off of the bus happy so I assume she has a fun time while she is away. I have a hard time getting any information from her about her day, it seems like she will tell us about her day on her own terms. It is so cute to hear her talk about the different games and things they play and do. Her teacher has been sending out emails here and there telling us about what they are doing.. they have A (music day), B (computer lab), C (Art), D (gym), and E (library), so it switches off each day.

This is Lucy after she got all of her shots.. she was so brave! She cried a little after it was all said and done but then Dr. Messick brought suckers in and she was fine. At her 5 year old appointment (8/15) she was 42.5 lbs and 43 inches tall. He said her weight is perfect and that she is a little tall for her age. I can't get over her cute dimples!

Norah taking her turn getting pictures in front of the school. Dave will be done with residency when Norah starts kindergarten so she will never go to Windermere. I wonder where she will go? Will it be in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, or Washington maybe? We still haven't decided where we want to live, we still have plenty of time to decide.

Lucy getting on the bus for the first time. She was so excited! The bus picks her up at the back driveway around 11:40 and drops her off at the corner a little after 3. She walks right on and for some reason walks straight to the back, sits down, and then waves to Norah and I. Super cute! Norah was so sad the first couple of days to see Lucy leave but now that she knows that when she wakes up from her nap that Lucy will be home to play.

Eating mac and cheese waiting for the bus to come.

Norah at the school with me while waiting to pick Lucy up from her orientation day (lasted about 1 1/2 hrs) Miss Leneger observed where Lucy was in her learning. She says Lucy is right on track and will do great. I love Norah's big eyes! Still confused on how her shirt got soaked. Ah, you never know with Norah.

Back to school night for new kindergarteners, they had Rita's ice cream and were able to meet teachers and new classmates and see the room where she will be spending the next year.

Miss Leneger is her teacher and she is really cute and very nice. Thank goodness for her! I could never teach school..

The first assignment they gave to the kids (well, to the parents) was to pick out a plant and bring it to plant in the classroom. I took Lucy to Lowe's and this is the plant she picked out.

Lucy in front of the school.. what a big girl!

Lucy and Norah getting some energy out and modeling for me :)

Go Windermere Hawks!

I thought this pic was so cute.. her hair is so cute and curly!

The first day of school was on August 26, 2011 and so far so good! I am really going to enjoy this year. No early mornings for us! I am loving my quiet afternoons and am thankful Norah still naps. I feel like I get a little break to get some things done around the house.. which is good because once Lucy is home I'm back to entertaining her and sometimes wishing school was a little longer :)

Wonder what baby #3 will look like...

2011-08-17T15:15:00.003-04:00

Norah Jane... 2 1/2 years old

Brown hair, green eyes, short, chubby little legs like her mom...

Lucy Bee... 5 years old

Blond hair, big blue eyes, and long, skinny legs like her daddy..

I wonder what baby #3 will look like???

Guess we will have to wait and see.. coming mid-february 2012!!

Just got home from my 2nd dr's appointment and everything looks great! We are so excited!

Traverse City, Michigan

2011-08-16T23:27:00.004-04:00

Dave had one of his 3 weeks off and had heard from a resident friend and an attending that northern Michigan was a must do! Well, they were right! We had such a good time!

All ready to go!! I think it took us a little less than 8 hours and that was with a lunch stop. The kids did awesome! As long at the DVD player and iPhones were charged they were set and happy as could be.

We hiked to this place called Pyramid Point.. it was sooo cool! I was thinking it was going to be this wussy hike but it was a legit hike. We even ditched the stroller because it got so steep at one point. Dave giving Norah a ride.. right before she drooled in his hair haha

Northwestern Michigan fair, we had to check it out. It had some great rides that the kids loved! The fair food... not so good. The weather was perfect!

Fish town, lots of little shops and places to eat.

We went to Empire beach the first day after hiking Pyramid Point and then to Bryant beach the day before we left. The beaches were so pretty. I guess I just always assumed only the ocean had cool beaches but Lake Michigan sure has some nice places to play in the sand and swim. The water was a little chilly but the kids didn't care. Dave even got in one day. I sat on the beach and read magazines... well atleast I tried in between making sandcastles and taking pictures. We also went to Glean Arbor the first day and had lunch at this place called Boondocks. I have to remember this because we have to eat there if we ever go back to Michigan. It was soooo good!

Exploring and getting some energy out of the kids.. next on the list that night.. swimming in the hotel pool.

Cute pic of Dave and the kids

At the top of Pyramid Point. You can see behind us how it drops.. you would think it was a cliff but it was pure sand the whole way down. Lots of people hiking down to the beach. Dave and I both took a turn.. it was sure fun going down but not so fun coming up.. it was so steep and hiking up in a foot of sand wasn't so easy but it was fun!

Looking down at the beach..

Empire Beach, on our way down to look at the lighthouse.

Cherries are big there, they had this big cherry store with different cherry stuff like salsa, candy, jams, etc and they had this pit full of cherry pits that the kids played in forever.

We went to the drive-inn one night.. something I haven't done in a really long time! We saw "Zookeeper" the kids loved the bed Dave made for them on the front of the car.

I don't think we have ever been to a drive-inn together so this was a first!

Lucy making sandcastles and putting rocks in the top and singing happy birthday to everyone :)

Playing following the leader on the way out to the car..

Every friday night during the summer the city closes down the main street down town and they have all kinds of entertainment.. it was so fun to walk around and hang out. We ate at this really yummy restaurant after.

It was a fun, relaxing trip and I am so glad we went. Thanks to Dave for researching and finding cool things to do. Next on our trip list.. Destin, Florida in October. I love having something to look forward too!

Summer randoms

2011-08-15T22:51:00.005-04:00

Here are some random pictures from the summer..

Lucy was in safety town for 2 weeks in July (afternoon session) which was a great thing to keep her busy. It makes me really excited for her to go to kindergarten. As much as I love her, afternoons are hard because she is sooooo bored and Norah still naps so once she is in school it will be a great time for me to have some time to get things done that I need to do.. safety town was a great teaser for me cause I got a taste of what it will be like. Can't wait! Norah had to get into the safety town action the day of graduation.

Lucy with her graduation badge.. they learned about bike safety, stranger awareness, water safety, fire safety, seatbelt safety (yes, I get in trouble every time we get into the car and I don't have my seat belt on :)), police day, animal safety, bus day, and other stuff I can't remember but you get the idea, they sang lots of cute songs, they had to take a helmet everyday so they could ride tricycles around their own streets with real traffic lights (kid ones) etc it was really cute how they would teach them about different aspects of safety. She loved it!!

Playing at one of the many parks close by.. they love this dinosaur for some reason.

Dave is riding in the Pelotonia this week and so OSU had a kids bike race at the stadium.. it was really fun! Lucy and Archie Griffin at the finish line..

Lucy ready to race.. there were a ton of kids behind her, it was pretty cute. She pedaled her little heart out.

Norah loves kitties!! This was at an Amish farm, the kids loved the animals!

Not sure how this picture made it in the mix, it's cute I guess!

Dave did a half ironman in Muncie, Indiana last month. It was so stinkin' hot, I melted just being outside with the kids so I am glad he survived the heat! It's a lot of work to train for one of those races. I'm proud of him.. he doesn't have much spare time to train but he finished it and did it well! Way to go babe!

Lucy with the ironman hat! The kids were troopers that day!

4th of July.. we watched fireworks at OSU (Red, White, and Boom) had a BBQ with friends from the ward, Dave took the kids to the parade.. I had worked all 3 nights of the holiday weekend so I was sleeping, heard I missed out on some sweet parade action, maybe next year.

Our family at the BBQ.. fun stuff. Can't believe another 4th of July has come and gone. I love the 4th of July! My favorite holiday hands down.

I thought I would shrivel up and die missing the Clark festivities but Columbus isn't that bad after all. We really love it here and are grateful for friends to share holidays with!

Lucy is 5!!

2011-08-15T22:19:00.003-04:00

Happy 5th birthday to Lucy!! We had a really fun birthday party for her with lots of her friends from preschool, neighbors, and friends that we hang out with. We had everyone come in their swimsuits and got the pool with slide out, slip n' slide, sprinklers under the trampoline, and other water toys. We had hotdogs and chips (Lucy's favorite), cupcake ice cream cones, and popsicles. That is what she wanted!!

Dad got out the sidewalk chalk and left a little message for Lucy.

Classic blowing out the candles picture..

After singing..

Before singing..

Norah eating and trying to keep up with all of the older kids. She loved having them all over to play.

She had presents galore!! She was still opening presents days after cause she had so many!

A picture of all of the kids that came to her party! One of the little boys from her preschool class officially declared Lucy's party "the best birthday party ever!" We all laughed because it really wasn't a big deal but the kids had so much fun!

Norah giving the #1 sign at McDonalds.

Dave had called on his way home from work on the actual day of Lucy's birthday and told Lucy we could go anywhere she wanted for dinner because it was her birthday and guess what she chose... yup, McDonalds.. Gross! Haha but she loves it and was really excited that we all went together as a family to eat on her birthday. Then we went to Greaters for icecream. Fun birthday night with the family.

Then... her birthday present. A new bike, which she really needed. She grew out of her little kid tricycle last year so we figured it was time to upgrade. She loves it and is still getting used to the training wheels but I don't think it will be long before the training wheels come off. She was so cute when we showed her the bike, biggest smile on her face. She is so darn cute!

Lucy and daddy taking a stroll.. I love all of the trees in the summertime.

I can't believe Lucy is 5.. where has the time gone? I remember the day she was born and it seems like yesterday. We love her so much and are so grateful for her sweet, energetic, little body and funny personality. She makes us laugh everyday! Happy Birthday to my little (not so little anymore) Lucy!!

Summer visitors!

2011-08-15T21:48:00.003-04:00

We have had a packed summer full of fun things.. especially fun visitors! We made some great memories and hope they will come back to see us here in Columbus!

The Moss family (Dave's sister) came at the end of June and were here for 5 days.. we went to King's Island, the zoo, and Amish country and spent the night in a fun little cabin. We played at the parks, caught lots of fireflies, talked a lot, and ate lots of good food. We had so much fun and the kids especially loved being able to play together. The day they left Lucy asked when they were coming back so hopefully they will someday.

The kids at the zoo.. the animals really put on a show for us that day. We saw the cutest little baby elephant swim.. it was perfect weather too!

My mom, dad (his first time to Columbus), and Aunt Jenny came to visit in August. We went to the outlets, mom made a whole bunch of yummy strawberry and raspberry jam for us and my favorite chicken to keep in the freezer for soups, chicken and rice, enchiladas, etc we ate out a lot, went to Amish country again, Jen helped me with some scrapbooking, we took the kids swimming at the hotel my parents were in for a couple of nights and mainly just hung out and stayed up late. I really miss Jen and her back tickles.. she put me to sleep every night! I'm kicking myself for not getting more pictures with them.. we will see them again soon and can get pictures then.

My mom and sister, Sarah, and her kids are coming to visit in October so I'm really excited for them to come.

Dave's mom and dad came to visit us as well in July. We went to the zoo a day, took them to German Village for some real German food and culture, checked out this huge book store while it poured rain, Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus Fish Market, tour of Columbus, and swimming at the hotel, which the kids always love!

Grandma V-Ann and kids (above)

Grandpa Vic and grandma with kids (below)

I printed all of these pictures and put them on the fridge, the kids love to look at them and reminiscence about how much fun it was to have so many visitors come from Utah and about the things we did.

Thank you for coming to visit us! We will always take visitors with open arms. We love them so much and it makes it being so far away from home not so bad when you get to see family every once in a while. We love you guys!!

Norah Jane

2011-06-16T23:45:00.001-04:00

I love that my kids are so different. This little bug of mine is a very happy, friendly, obedient, content little girl and I'm not sure if she will ever be a terrible 2!! She can definitely hold her own though, no one messes with Norah. She can be very kind but does not put up without any bull.

This picture of her is when she ran in the fun run for the primary kids at the Memorial Day ward breakfast. She loved all of the action and wants so bad to be a part of the big kid group.

She LOVES her daddy! It is my favorite part of the day when dad comes home from work and the kids run to the door looking for daddy. They are so excited to see him!

She loves to feed the ducks with dad.. She really loves all animals but some of her favorite animals are ducks, cows, birds, squirrels, bunnies, goggies (doggies) especially the one next door, she always has to stick her tongue out and pant like a dog when she sees one, she also loves kitties, especially the one across the street.

Ah, Nolan.. Norah's first love. We met the Hymas family at Rita's for ice cream one night. She and Nolan have become friends from nursery and from playing together at eachothers houses.

Fire house time with Lincoln! They loved this fire truck with all of the horns and lights.

Cute outfit!! It was a little big for her but she didn't care!

Park of Roses last Sunday evening. Very pretty!

Driving... wants to be like mom :)

Loves to wear our glasses. She stole Dave's glasses during church.. I couldn't help but snap a picture. Pretty cute!

Outside.. always outside! Looks like it is time to hand over Lucy's bike to Norah!

She put this crown on by herself and was so proud. Thought she looked so cute!

We made fruit loop necklaces in nursery, she loves cereal! She isn't a picky eater like Lucy is. She will actually eat meat and will sit down and eat when she is hungry. Some other things she loves are chicken nuggets and fries, hot dogs, quesadillas, any fruit, chocolate (caukre) milk, plain milk, goose (juice), chips, crackers, cheese, and fruit snacks. She asks for 'treats' or 'snacks' all day long.. probably because that is what Lucy does. One of her favorite games to play is snack bar.. where she asks you what you would like and then says okay and then pretends to get it for you.. she also loves hide and seek and can count to 12 all by herself! Smart little girl! She loves the bubble machine, trampoline, swing set, and baby pool that we sometimes fill with water out back.

We were outside playing and Norah disappeared inside and came out with an armful of stuffed animals.. she kept getting frustrated that she kept dropping them.

This is the day Norah got her ear tubes in.. playing with the toys in the waiting room before surgery.

I LOVE this picture! They gave her a coloring book to color while waiting and as long as she had her lankey (blankey) she was happy.

She thought her little gown was so cute with all of the animals and wanted me to keep looking (look) at it.

They gave her a little sleeping medicine to reduce anxiety when they took her back to surgery and instead of making her loopy it just made her sleepy and she just wanted to lay on the bed, hold her animals, and suck on her empty sippy cup. She did a great job. We were at the surgery center for about 2 hours so it was really quick. Dr Forrest said her ears were a mess, the worst set of ears he had seen in a (pause) really long time. Poor thing! He said she would immediately start feeling better and he was right.

Some other things about Norah..

She is a very cuddly little girl. Always giving hugs and kisses to to us and other little kids she sees.

She loves babies and any other kids, gets so excited when kids come over to play.

Ever since she turned 2 (in april) she refuses to sleep in her crib, she wants to sleep on my bed or her bed (Lucy's bed) I guess I can't complain.

She loves to put on her tutu and watch/dance to princess movies (12 Dancing Princesses), also loves Nick jr and Disney. Mainly asks for Dora or Bubble Guppies.

She loves the kids club at the gym and loves when Mary (the worker) draws happy faces and hands with her.

She loves to color especially with Lucy!

She loves to sing and eventhough you can't really understand the words she can actually carry a tune so I know which words to help her sing. Loves to sing Happy Birthday to herself and then blow out the candle after, Old Macdonald, Popcorn popping, I'm so glad when daddy comes home, ABC's, wheels on the bus, Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, Twinkle, twinkle, little star, and Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

She loves to play games on my phone especially the one with the shapes, she is amazing at it.

She loves when I lay by her at night and sing to her while I tickle her back, arms, legs, etc.

Some of her favorite words are not yet, watch, no play, no church, no bed, or no whatever word she chooses after, help, car, shoes, drink, hungry, play, jump, Lucy (two-cy) mom, dad, Jenny, Bee, and Dug, jump, potty, diaper, phone, and movie are some of her regulars.

She gets her own diaper when she needs to be changed, hopefully that means she will be easy to potty-train.

Norah is a great secret teller.. mainly jibber jabber in one ear then turns your head to tell you another one in the other ear, we play this back and forth for a long time and she loves it. I can't help but laugh with the stuff she tries to say.

She is very good about telling me what she wants.. she will take my hand and take me where she wants to go or tell me which cupboard she wants opened etc. Lucy got locked out of the house yesterday and she came and got me, kept saying Lucy, and took me to the door where Lucy was crying outside. Pretty impressive for a newly 2 year old.

She loves baby dolls and will play with little toys forever, which is great!

She is my early bird (UGH!) but always takes a good nap, I'm crossing my fingers that lasts through next year while Lucy is at school.

I love my funny little Norah! She is such a sweetheart! I love you!

Lucy Bee

2011-06-13T14:29:00.001-04:00

Oh Lucy, where do I begin.. here are lots of cute pictures of her and some updates on things she has been doing lately.

Lucy loves anything with sugar.. one of her favorites.. fruit loops. She loves cereal especially when it's time to go to bed, a staller if you ask me. She hates going to bed but loves sleeping in. That's my girl! She claims that her favorite food is chocolate chip cookies especially the cookie dough. She also loves chicken nuggets and corn, nachos, quesadillas, watermelon, french fries, grilled cheeses, uncrustable PB&J's, mac and cheese, chocolate milk, white milk, really any juices or soda, popsicles, popcorn, chips and dip, "paper" cheese, hotdogs (with ketchup and a toothpick), frozen waffles, rice, and hot cereal.

Lucy finished the soccer season up a couple of weeks ago.. not sure how many games they won. She was one of the youngest on the team and pretty much just chased the ball. Without fail had to go potty once during the game and after half time would rather have played on the playground so it looks like we will hold off until she is a little older to try that again but she did have some friends on the team so that was fun for her. She is going to be in swim lessons most of the summer and really wants to take gymnastics again so were looking into that after she finishes safety town in July.

Classic Lucy idea! She will be 5 in July and is so excited to go to Kindergarten. She will be going to Windermere Elementary (afternoon) which is about 5 minutes away but since it crosses a major street that she can't walk across so they will bus her!! Wahoo for me!! She is pumped about riding the school bus and freaks out every time she sees one drive by our house. Apparently they will pick her up right at our corner so it will be perfect. I can only imagine the things I will get done while Norah naps and Lucy is at school or the nice quite nap I'll take with Norah. She loves school and can hardly wait for the fall. BTW, these are Dave's gym shorts. She really wanted Dave to take this picture and send it to her Aunt Jenny. So random.

I think Lucy got dads running genes. She is a fast little runner. Our ward had a breakfast at the park for Memorial Day and they had a fun run for the primary which the kids loved! They had one for the 5 years and under kids and she beat everyone by a long shot. They also had one for the older kids and she kept up pretty well. They got these sweet medals after and Lucy thought it was really funny that she kept drinking her orange juice while I was trying my hardest to get both kids to smile, little stinker!

I told Lucy she could get a treat at the store if she was good at the Eagle's Nest (it is a little play place at the grocery store where you can drop your kids off while you shop.. genius if you ask me. Well... she chose circus peanuts. My mom would be proud, those are her favorites!

We went to the Park of Roses last night and the kids were really cute. They both love to be outside running around.

This is the best story ever told.. she wrote this in preschool. It says...

Once upon a time...

There was a lizard. His name was lizard. He went into a forest. He got ated by a dinosaur. The dinosaur choken on it.

The End

By: Lucy

We laughed and laughed at this story. In fact, one day I was waiting to pick Lucy up and was reading the other kids stories and they were hilarious! I was giggling to myself for 10 minutes. Such funny kids. We also learned from her teacher that she thinks her dad is 90 years old and that if she were a leprechaun that she would hide her gold under her bed.. who knew.

Lucy loves our backyard and would be out there all day if I'd let her but since our yard ins't fenced in I'm a little nervous to send the kids out alone so looks like we will be spending a lot of time out back this year. Her favorite things to do outside include hide and sink (seek), tag, poison and dead man on the trampoline, playing with her new little friends across the fence, Bella and Joey, running through the sprinklers with Brent, Adam, and Claire, sliding down the slide into this little pool that our neighbors gave to us, hopscotch and sidewalk chalk, and really anything else outside. We have a swim pass and so I imagine we will spend plenty of time there as well.

I made brownies one Sunday evening and she helped me cut them.. wow haha thanks Luce, pretty mangled if you ask me :) but love the help! So proud!

Ah, Lucy and Luke, such a funny little kid and one of her best friends. When I ask her who her best friends are she always says Luke, Brady, and Miles. She also loves her cousin Kade.. hmmm I guess she likes boys, which is good I guess. Her latest obsession.. Big Time Rush (boy band) sweet! She's 4 for crying out loud!

Lucy is really such a happy little girl and pretty funny too. She always has a story for me and the day would not be complete without a stack of computer paper with love notes written all over them. She always makes one for me, dad, and Norah. Her favorite words to write are mom, dad, Norah, Lucy, boo, oh no, cat, dog, i love you, usa and she is learning more everyday. She loves to color, play with play dough, paint, and read books especially at night with dad after mom goes to work. We go to the library quite a bit for new books and movies. We signed her up for the Upper Arlington reading program and she gets some sweet prizes so that will help motivate us to help her read more.

A couple of other things about Lucy.

She loves her baby sister Norah! Always helping her and teaching her new things. I love how they play together. My favorite is when they get laughing, I can't help but laugh with them even when I don't know what they are laughing about. Another funny thing about Lucy, she loves to sing.. especially in the bathroom. I can't count how many people have come out of the bathroom in public places and ask me if that little girl belongs to me and what a cute little singing voice she has. So funny. Last but not least.. her favorite saying of the day.. "Choose it!" Whenever I ask her what she wants to eat or what she wants to do it's always choose it! Such big decisions to make around our house. We love our little Lucy and are so thankful to have her sweet little body in our home. She amazes me every day!

Random spring pics 2011

2011-05-29T11:14:00.000-04:00

Some random pictures and updates from spring in Columbus..

Dad and Lucy coloring Easter eggs.. love Lucy's face, she is such a goof!

The kids loved the Easter bunny this year. I love their ages right now, they are still little and get so excited about holidays, birthdays etc.

Norah kept wanting to sit on the Easter bunnys lap. It was so cute!

My 2 girls (Lucy 4, Norah, almost 2 when this picture was taken)

A Ludlow tradition.. Egg bashing.

Dave won! His egg is a blue Buckeye egg.. hmmm half cougar fan, half buckeye fan, not sure.

The Easter bunny brought this T-ball set to Lucy. She is really good at it for being 4 years old.

Norah's birthday party!! I can't believe she is 2. She is such a cute, happy little girl.

On Norah's birthday there was a little carnival at the school Lucy will be going to next year so we thought it would be fun to check it out. She loved it! This is how she tells people she is 2. She says 2 but holds up one finger. We will have to work on that :)

I ran the Capital City half marathon again this year with some friends. My goal was 2 hours and I barely made it with seconds to go. I think I'll make it a yearly tradition. I like having something to train for, it keeps me motivated to stay in shape. It is a fun one to run to since it is all downtown Columbus so you stay busy looking around at the city instead of thinking about how much you want to stop and walk.

That evening we all went to dinner with our husbands. It was a fun way to celebrate being done. below: Lisa, Kirsten, me, Janis, Melanie

I do it!! I hear this out of Norah's little mouth a lot these days. She is very independent and wants to do everything by herself. What a cute little body.

I took Norah to the ENT, she needs ear tubes. Hopefully no more winters seeing the Dr every other week for ear infections. June 10th is the day so hopefully she will feel better after getting them.

I thought this picture was cute of Dave in the OR, fun to see him in action.

We got the kids a trampoline for the backyard. When it is warm out all they want to do is play outside so we thought they would enjoy something to do during the warm months of the year. Our neighbor across the street had this swingset that his kids grew out of years ago so he gave it to us so now it's a given that we are out playing whenever possible.

I love this picture! They look so sweet and innocent.

Funny funny Norah!

Me and Luce at the preschool Mother's Day Tea party. Such a cute idea.

We are pumped for the summer! it is Memorial Day today and smokin hot at 90 degrees. Much better than the cold and snow. We don't have big plans for the summer but will stay busy with swim passes, parks, zoo, visitors, Dave's ironman in July, and some other little things planned here and there. Dave starts his 3rd year in July! I can't believe how fast time flies. It is so crazy we have lived here almost 2 years. Happy summer!

Utah/Az spring break

2011-04-22T00:09:00.001-04:00

My mom called a month or so ago and talked me into bringing the kids to Utah for a little spring break. How could I resist!! We didn't do a whole lot, just hang out and catch up. Here are a whole bunch of random pictures from our trip.

I have been wanting to go hiking so much lately, don't know why, so I thought it would be really fun to hike the Y. I planned for everyone to meet up so everyone showed up at my moms and unfortunately I was really sick with the flu and made it 2 steps to the car and turned around to go back inside and lay back on the couch :( I was so bummed. Norah and I watched conference and took naps. Thank goodness for family.. they helped me so much with the kids so I could rest and get better. Lucy had so much fun and talks about hiking the Y with her cousins everyday.

Norah loves baby Alex!!

Lucy and Quincey drinking their McD's smoothies, thanks Aunt Jenny!

Can't go to Utah and not go to Chuck E Cheese! Thanks grandma!

Lucy keeping busy during conference. She got pretty bored and kept asking when all of the kids were coming over. Wish we didn't live so far away, she loves playing with all of her little cousin friends.

My mom put on a little Easter egg hunt for all of the kids after sunday dinner. They loved it!!

Norah loves her Aunt Jenny! Happy birthday to them both in April, and Rylee too! I can't believe Norah will be 2!

Sorting through their eggs..

Singing happy birthday to the april birthday kids. Looks like Lucy thinks it is her birthday, look at that big smile!

Norah and Sadie playing outside on the trampoline, such good buds! Love Arizona weather in the spring!

Playing at the park

Lucy and Kade playing some late night Wii. We had a layover in Phoenix on our way home and instead of getting back on the plane to get home to Columbus we decided to stay in Phoenix and spend a couple of days with my sister, Sarah, and family. I'm so glad we stayed. We had so much fun!

Lucy and Kade... they love eachother so much. Oh how I wish we lived close. They would have so much fun together. I'm so glad Lucy is being so lady like and crossing her legs for the camera :)

Me and Sarah.. what a lovely pic. I miss her. Fun to do the mom thing together.

Lucy Bee loves her Aunt Candice Bee!

Is Lucy a Ludlow or what?

Another hike the Y picture..

Thanks to those who helped Lucy up and down the mountain and for taking pictures for me. I'm sad I missed out. Next time...

It was a great trip home. We miss everyone so much and can't wait to see everyone again.. although we don't have any plans as of now to visit were hoping for some weddings soon!!! I guess we will wait and see..

Early spring break 2011

2011-03-08T22:49:00.000-05:00

Dave had one of his weeks off the first week in February so we decided to take advantage and do something fun and spend some time together. We wanted to go somewhere warm.. Ohio had a big ice storm while we were gone with all kinds of power outages and problems so we were happy we missed out on that action. Anyway, back to my going somewhere warm story.. we had heard of this little place called Hilton Head, South Carolina that was cool and usually warm, well warmer than Ohio so we decided to check it out. We had such a good time and the girls were so good, I was amazed at how well they did with all of the driving etc.

We stayed at The Disney Resort that had direct access to the beach from the clubhouse that also had a pool and some other fun things, camp fires and story telling/smores at night, and activities for the kids. The place was dead because of the time of year but we didn't mind..

Here are a couple of pics from the trip.. the view from outside of the hotel.

The kids playing at the beach.. it was a little chilly but as long as they had their little jackets on they were fine.

We made sure to bring along some sand toys for them to play with, it was nice to be in the sunshine, it actually was upper 60's that day so it really wasn't too bad.

A little shuffleboard, Lucy got pretty darn good at it.. as for Norah, she just liked to run up and down (you can see her little body at the other end). They are such funny little kids.

Me and the EZO, Lucy wanted to practice taking pictures.. she did a pretty good job!

"Shadow" the dog.. the kids loved him.

Norah doing the #1, yes, still loves her bottle and can't live without it but... being the mean mom that I am :) it is in the process of disappearing. She is almost 2!! Which I can't believe.

Daddy and Lucy doing the #1.. cute pic!

We went to Savannah, Georgia a night just to explore after doing some outlet shopping. We found a couple of the touristy areas and walked around, rode a little train up and down this cool little main street, and even got a boat ride. We went to dinner and bought a couple of souvenirs plus one of the wiseman that Norah broke after I told her not to touch anything haha yeah right.. so we will have to hot glue the head back on and it will be perfect for next Christmas.

Family pic

It always kinda stinks to get home and back into reality but we have a very good life and feel very blessed that we can take little family trips here and there. We had a great time and many memories to last until Dave's next break which.. won't be for a long time :( residency.. it won't last forever.

2011-03-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

Gotta love family pics! A couple of them turned out pretty cute.. I especially love all of the fall colors! I love Columbus in the fall, it is such a beautiful place to live. We are really happy here but miss home and the mountains :( maybe someday we will go back.

Say cheese!

Merry Christmas 2010!!

2011-03-06T22:06:00.000-05:00

Another Christmas in Columbus down... can't believe it was our second holiday away. We had a good Christmas.. it was pretty quiet and Dave was on call most of the holiday so we stuck around home. We had fun and Santa brought some fun presents for us. We also watched a ton of Christmas movies.. the girls (as you can see below) loved watching Home Alone (mostly Norah), The Grinch (both the children and adult one, Christmas Story, The Elf, Polar Express, and Frosty the Snowman.

Before we got a new furnace this was the warmest place to be in the house. We always camp out above this heat vent when we are freezing, now that we have a brand new furnace (courtesy of our awesome landlords) our house stays nice and warm all over so we don't have to rely on this one spot to stay warm.

Lucy, Miles, and Norah after the preschool Christmas program.. it was so cute! We sure miss Miles, he moved to Utah a couple of months ago. Lucy has a couple of new boyfriends now so hopefully they don't move away :) although they will all go to different schools next year.

Norah got this little tub toy from her cousin, Sadie, and she loves it!! Entertains her in the bath tub forever.

Lucy loves her new princess figurines and her new Disney princess computer game!

My parents gave them both pillow pets for Christmas and they were soooo excited when they opened up their presents. Thanks guys!

We are so thankful for this time of year and for the birth of Christ. I am so thankful to have such an awesome family to spend the holiday with. Now let 2011 begin!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2010-12-12T00:54:00.001-05:00

For thanksgiving this year we were able to go home back to Utah. It was really fun and so good to see everyone. I didn't get many pictures which I'm regretting because we did some really fun things. Oh well. This is a picture of my family although 3/4's are missing. I have a big family and it is the greatest! You always have someone to talk too. I love you all!

This picture is Daves family although (haha) atleast 3/4's are missing.. we always have to make a Brick Oven trip while we're there. It was fun to be with them and play games, talk, and eat. Good memories!

While we were there Dave got to sit 2nd row at a jazz game and was able to sneak back into the family room after the game to meet some of the players, which he LOVED! Too bad his phone was dead :( We meet with many friends and were able to visit our old stompin' grounds. The kids loved playing with the cousins and it was fun to just relax and not have any rushed plans. We're so blessed and so thankful for our families and friends. We love you all!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-11-14T01:16:00.000-05:00

This year Lucy really wanted to be a skeleton and so when we found a sweet costume I knew it was meant to be. I chose for Norah to be a devil and that is self explanatory. I love this picture! It's the only one I got of both of them looking and smiling.

There are a couple of families from the ward that live in the neighborhood so before trick-or-treating we ordered pizza and then let the kids all run together. There is a street a couple blocks from us that is blocked off specifically for trick-or-treaters. It's nice because the houses are all really close together and since they have so many kids people just camp out on their porches and hand out candy. It's the best because it takes an hour-ish to get to all of the houses and that is about all our kids could take. I love that there are so many little kids around the same age.

Dad and Norah

Norah caught eating my mints

Boo at the zoo, which is always so fun!

Ward party, I bet you can't guess who Shrek is. Lucy picked this our for Dave. I love Norah's face, she is not sure if she is happy or sad.

Waiting so patiently in line for donut eating contest.

They thought that lighting the pumpkins up were so cool. It was really fun!

This is the first pumpkin Lucy has ever helped gut, she didn't like it very much.

Oh, another picture of leaf piles.

We love Halloween!

Fall 2010

2010-11-14T00:28:00.001-05:00

We've stayed busy this fall... I can't believe it is just about over.

Here are some pics from the last couple of months..

Some of us girls ran the Prairie Oaks 10 K last Saturday and as I turned the corner for the finish line I saw Dave and the girls waving at me.. Lucy had a big smile on her face and so did Norah.. until I ran past them.. Dave then took this picture of her running after me crying. I wish she didn't like me so much!

I have to say that I have a very dedicated and supportive husband.. even though this 10K was a little rinky dink race he still came after getting the girls all ready (it was 30 degrees outside, freezing!) he ran outside that morning and turned the car on so it would be warm when they got in and when he came back out minutes later figured out that the keys were locked inside of the running car, oops! He was going to see if our neighbor would let him borrow his car but then remembered my sister had her car there so he threw the kids in her car and came down to the race. All of us went to breakfast after and when we got home hours later, the car was still running. It meant a lot to me that he still came and brought the girls. I love you!

My good friends, Rachel and Debbie are pros now, it was their first big race.. they did awesome!!

Me and my sweet little sis, I'm going to miss her so much when she goes home.

One of Dave's co-workers gave us this huge soccer goal.. I think he felt bad saying no so now we have this massive soccer goal in the back yard but the kids love it! Norah is already learning some sick tricks.

Luly has moved on from soccer until the spring and is going to keep busy with ballet and gymnastics at Carriage Place. So talented standing on one foot :)

My 2 little munchkins!

This past week the weather has been beautiful so we took advantage and went to the zoo, Lucy took this picture.. I thought it was cute.

Lucy "helping" me with dinner although now she is just playing in the flour. They have a flour/rice/sand box type thing at preschool so she was excited when I pulled out the flour.

I love the fall weather here, and I especially love all of the colors. I don't ever remember the trees being so bright out in Utah but I'm obsessed with them out here. Come the 2nd week in October if you want to see some really pretty country. It is so pretty!

Dave and Norah, Dave and his cougar hat.

Norah is being so helpful!

This is what you will see when you walk outside and look down our street.. I love it!

The kids have been so cute this fall. They love to play in the leaves. I thought this was so cool when we first moved here but you rake all of the leaves to the street and then a big truck with a vacuum comes by and sucks them all up. I'm used to stuffing them all in a bag etc. The kids were instantly entertained by piles and piles of leaves.

I'm not sure who was in charge but Norah had already been bathed and dressed in her pajamas when we heard Lucy laughing hysterically. We went in to see what was up and Norah had made her way back into the bathtub with her clothes on. Little pill.

We love it here in Columbus and are excited for winter.. alright I lied. I'm not excited for the winter. Cold, gray weather for 4 months really isn't that exciting. I have a list of things to do when it's cold out, it's a good list so i'm going to be using it lots!

Norah!

2010-10-14T23:14:00.000-04:00

Norah aka Little pill..

She is 18 months and so stinkin' cute! She kisses and hugs me all day and is such a happy, content little girl. She is tough and doesn't let Lucy mess with her. She loves other kids and just wants to be a part of the action. My favorite thing lately is that she knows when to say please and thank you, it's not really clear but you know that is what she is saying. She and Lucy are so cute together and they laugh and play and it's so darn cute. Here are some quick pics of Norah, you will soon see why her nickname is little pill..

She borrowed Lucy's stool to reach the bread.

We went to the pet store one rainy day after the movie just for the heck of it and we found this little dog that looks like "Taco" our stuffed family dog. She LOVED it, she freaked out when we took it away.. the poor thing was squealing because she was holding it by the neck.

Can't go to Tuttle mall without riding this rinky dink merry-go-round.

I was unloading the groceries from the car and she sneaked into the drivers seat, it's funny how they see you drive and copy what you do.

All ready for bed watching baby einsteins, I love her cute little body.

Yep, one unsupervised moment and this is what i find.

I took the girls to feed the ducks one day and it had been raining. I was helping Lucy and within 1 minute, I'm not kidding, she was crawling through the puddles. She was having so much fun and since she was soaked I let her play a while.

Already polished off her food and thought she would help Lucy with hers. Dave calls her McNorah because she eats all of the time.

I had this room spotless and was doing other things around the house and within 10 minutes she had literally destroyed my clean room. Sometime I wonder why I try cleaning.. ugh!

Can't tell you how many time I have picked up those dang movies. I ended up taking them all to the dungeon to save my self some frustration :)

She wants to ride this bike more than Lucy. She also loves to swing in the front yard.

Happy birthday to my sweet Norah. We celebrated at Chuck E Cheese in Arizona, since we were there visiting. I love having her sweet little spirit in my life, she makes me laugh everyday and eventhough she is a "pill" and constantly into everything, I can never seem to be mad at her for more than 5 minutes. Her little smile melts my heart and I love her so much.

Lucy!

2010-10-14T00:18:00.001-04:00

Some quick pics of my sweet little Luce.

A couple of her friends signed up for soccer and since she has more energy than any little girl I know we decided to sign her up as well. Hailey and Eliza are friends from the neighborhood and church. It's fun because us moms sit and chat about who knows what while the guys cheer the girls on. Lucy without fail has to go potty during the practices and games. Her favorite part is the capri sun and snack after the game, she's no dummy. Go united!!

Lucy is still going to Covenant preschool (same place she went the year before just another year older). She absolutely loves it. She has the cutest little friends and the teachers are the best. Anyway, they had a little back to school night and this is what was on display. It's so funny to hear what she thinks goes on at home.

Taco the family dog... and the only dog we will ever own. Dave gave this talking Taco Bell dog to me for my 22nd birthday, it doesn't talk anymore and I have tried throwing it away many times but it still somehow ends up back in the toy room. Lucy loves it and looks for him everyday. Pretty cute!

Lucy doesn't eat anything all day, but as soon at 9pm rolls around she is starving, hmmm good way to stall going to bed. I hate for her to go hungry and her fav is chicken nuggets and corn, gross, but she downs every single bite, then she goes to bed and I know she has a full tummy.

She LOVES to paint! Preschool is where it's at, she has learned so much!

I sort of knew she was doing this but didn't really pay too much attention until I noticed she had painted her entire body! Great supervision on my part. Good thing it's water proof!

Her cute little Nike outfit that her daddy picked out for her, just chillin' on the front porch.

She took gymnastics (banastics) this summer at Wendy's. She loves it and is quite the little gymnast. She was the most coordinated in the whole group and was one of the youngest. Could not get her to smile for the life of me.

Happy 4th birthday to Lucy! We had a little swimming party at the local pool with friends that had passes and then took some other friends to Chuck E Cheese, that is really what she wanted to do. It was really fun and she got some really fun things. I can't believe how old she is!

I love my little Lucy! What would I do without her sweet but sassy personality, her cute little smile with those big dimples, and her hugs and kisses everyday. She's my baby and I'm so thankful to have her in my life.

Akron, Ohio Marathon 9/25/10

2010-10-13T01:51:00.000-04:00

Dave started this... but I'm so glad that he did. For my 31st birthday he gave me this cool running watch that is run by local satellites. It tells you your pace, time, distance, and a whole bunch of other stuff. He then gave me a box with the confirmation info about this "marathon" he had signed me up for. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first but once I got home and started training I was actually kind of excited about it. I only had 12 weeks to train so I had to get going (Dave and I ran a half marathon in May, so I was already half trained and not too far behind). He said that he knew I wanted to run one but knew that I would never get the guts to sign up myself so he did it for me. My sister decided to run it too since she was moving out so that was that was nice to have her support when I wanted to quit. We pumped each other up so we would be ready for the big day.

We survived! I'm not going to lie, it was hard but I gave it my all. Our goal was to run 26.2 miles in 4:30 and we both beat it. I finished in 4:12 and Jen in 4:06. Not Boston marathon time but pretty dang good for our first marathon.

Janis, the one next to me is in my ward and her sister Karyn ran it as well. We trained a lot together because it is absolute torture to train on your own. We spent many hours talking, stealing gatorade and water from the marathoners in training, early mornings at Antrim lake and Olentangy River Trail, which is beautiful by the way, and many other things I will never forget. I love you guys so much and I miss you even though I see you at church every sunday.

I'm so blessed to have a healthy body, it is so important to me more than ever. What a great accomplishment for all of us. I'm proud of you guys.

What's up?

2010-10-13T00:02:00.000-04:00

Well... it's pretty sad when you go to post something on your blog and you can't remember your password! Dave told me I was going to lose all of my blogging friends including him because I never update. I'm over it. I haven't done this since February, yep, it's been that long, so I'm a little rusty and all of these pics are out of order, but it's really late and I just want to go to bed :)

Here are some of our summer adventures..

We made our way to Massachusetts in August for a wedding for a good friend from home (Utah) It was so fun and so good to see so many of our friends that came from all over the U.S. ones we haven't seen in years. We made many stops on our "back east" trip and the girls were awesome even though hours in the car were long.

Niagara Falls, probably the coolest place I have ever been too! It's a must see.

We went to Palmyra, NY for a little church history. My sister came out to live with us for a semester so she came with us and sat in the back between the kids to keep the peace. I'll never forget the giggling I heard as I took this picture. Funny kids, yes, Jen is one of my kids for now.

Hiking around Hill Cumorah, next stop, The Sacred Grove, where the kids were super reverent and folded their arms the whole time, psst yeah right. It was a cool experience and I'm so glad we made the stop.

Dave drove all night which means we were up keeping him company so he wouldn't fall asleep, meanwhile the kids we sound asleep. We got to our hotel early that morning so we could hopefully get a little sleep before the wedding at noon and of course the kids we're all smiles.. I LOVE this picture! Lucy was just happy to finally be at the "show and tell" (she means hotel) haha, they are so cute!

We stayed in Boston for 4 nights and just relaxed and explored. Dave was dying to go to see the Red Sox play and since it was a late game I volunteered my sis to stay and watch the game with him and I took the kids back and put them to bed. Secretly I just wanted to go back and watch the Bachelor Pad, such a good show.

This picture was taken in a little town just out of Boston. Dave heard they had really good clam chowder and also that it was really pretty so we thought we would check it out. It was such a cool place so thank you to the random man at the wedding that told us about it.

So, these next pictures weren't "vacation pictures" just 4th of July ones. We love the 4th and it was my first away from Utah, but I survived and it was really fun. We have so many good friends out here and it really is home to us now. I got home from work the morning of the 4th and Dave and Lucy were still asleep and Norah was chirping in her crib so I got her up and we met some friends down at the Upper Arlington parade. It wasn't a freedom festival parade, but it was still fun. That evening we went to a BBQ with our ward friends and then to watch fireworks down at the OSU fields with some of our other friends. We're so popular aren't we haha It was a really fun day and the 4th will always be my favorite holiday.

Lucy and her little friends, if you're wondering about the band aids on her arm, it's a new obsession of hers, she needs a band aid for everything!

Norah eating.. what's new. Dave calls her McNorah (as in McDonalds)!

Norah was taking her first steps, Lucy was walking by her 1st birthday but Norah decided she was going to take her time. As of today, she is running. They learn so fast.

Me and my sweet babe

Okay, so for my 31st birthday Dave decided to take us all on a little weekend getaway. I thought forever we were on our way to Amish country, and I was so confused when I kept seeing signs for "Cedar Point" one of the biggest roller coaster amusement parks. We had sooo much fun! It was so nice that my sister was there because we were able to do a parent swap, for example, Jenny and I would wait in line and go on the ride while Dave would stay with the kids, then we would get a pass and give the pass to Dave and then he could take one of us to ride again while the other stayed with the kids. There were some sick rides, some that I never want to ride again. So scary, I couldn't even scream on some of them I was literally so scared. It was a fun day though and the kids loved Snoopy Land.

We checked out this beach the night before Cedar Point which is on Lake Erie. It was so cool because as you can see in this picture, Dave is clear out there with the kids and Lucy can touch, they have it roped off so you can't get too crazy. The kids were loving it and the water was warm. The weather was so nice, after we went to eat and called it a night.

My sis with the kids. What a trooper! We are so glad she has decided to join our family for a couple of months. The kids love having her around! I love having her around more though, especially on the long weekends and nights Dave is on call, love her company and someone to get cokes with, and someone to tickle my back. I love you Jen!

Lucy LOVED this ride! She went on it over and over again. It's like the blast off ride or whatever the other one next to it is called at Lagoon. It was so cute. Her dimples are so cute and if you look close enough you can see them she was smiling and laughing so hard.

Our family, with the craziest ride in the background. I can't remember what it is called since it has been months but it's scary but one of those I would totally go on again except it had a 3 hour wait by the time we left. Happy 31st to me! Thanks babe! You never disappoint.

Dave had a week off in April and was craving some nice warm golf weather so we made our way to Arizona. It was a lot of fun. Norah also celebrated her 1st birthday there, more pictures to come.

It was a successful summer!

Updates

2010-02-22T04:33:00.001-05:00

WE'RE BACK!!
Atleast for today. I can't believe how far behind I have been on my blogging. I don't know how anyone keeps up on blogging, I can't even keep up on my laundry. I'm going to try and do better I promise.

We are all doing well and enjoying being here in Columbus. Dave is staying really busy with work and continually checks the weather in St. George cause that's where he really wants to be. Biking, hiking, running, golfing, lots of business with all of the retired old men, it doesn't get better than that. Come June he will have 1 year down, 4 to go. Time flies so fast. We moved here when Norah was 6 weeks and now she is almost 10 months. I can't believe it.

I am working for a home health agency, I work nights, which is really nice that I don't have to worry about daycare etc.. I know the kids are safe at home with Dave and I don't worry. I mainly work with the same family and I absolutely love them. They are so good to me so instead of dreading work I actually look forward to going.

Dave and I are serving as ward missionaries and we really like it. It has been by far my favorite calling. I love the missionaries so much. They work so hard and I have learned so much from them. When we first moved out my brother Sean was still serving a mission. I look up to him so much, he is such a good kid and I would do anything for him. When I was called to be a ward missionary I automatically thought of him and told myself that I would love and take care of the missionaries here like I would want someone else to take care of my brother in Minnesota. The church is true!

Dave and I made a goal to run the capital city half marathon in may so we are training for that.. 7 miles this week.. Yikes! If I have to run one more mile on a treadmill I may kick myself, so hopefully the weather warms up soon so we can run outside.

Lucy started preschool last fall and loves it. It is a chore getting her out the door on time but once were out it's good. She has learned so much and always comes home with a new story or song. She also loves the kids club at the gym. She knows right where everything is and she loves to wash her hands with the magic soap. She is a sunbeam and shared the scripture a couple of Sundays ago and it was so cute. Her teacher says that she really likes to sing and that they are trying to teach her that she can sing during singing time but needs to listen when it's learning time. I told the teacher good luck with that. Lucy told me today that her favorite primary song is "Once there was a snowman" and then she sang and did the actions for me. Dad says Lucy and I have an "intense" relationship because we bicker all of the time but love each other so much. Lucy's favorite things to do right now are paint pictures, color, make princess crowns with daddy, sticker books, play hide and seek, the running game, dance party, drag Taco (her stuffed dog from Taco Bell) by a leash (dad's belt), act like her own made up doggie, Aggie, and pretend that otter pops are her bones, make tents, dance with her princess get up, and watch moobies.. she is a busy girl... and that's why she will be in pre school 4 days next year. She has sooo much energy. She also loves to "read" to us. She loves to blame things on Norah, like today when I asked her who got the toys out again, "it was Norah" she told me. This is also kind of funny although I'm not sure where she got this from but when I ask her to do something she doesn't want to do she tells me that she has a broken leg, I just have to laugh. My other favorite thing lately is when I say "It's time to brush teeth, take a bath, time to eat dinner etc" she says "I did it yesterday!" I don't think she understands what yesterday means. She says Ah, man, which is really cute. We walk on eggshells with her and you never know when she is going to snap but she wouldn't be Lucy without a thousand tantrums a day. She also claims that she dreams of noodles every time she sleeps. Pretty funny.

Norah is sooo chill and I love it! Except that she is an early riser... that doesn't go over well in our house. She is 10 months and getting so big. She is a fast mover and is so funny because she doesn't crawl on all 4's, she army crawls. She gets up on all 4's but prefers to drag herself. I don't go anywhere without her following me, she works so hard to keep up but she does. She has 2 cute little bottom teeth and has a 3rd starting to poke through on the top. Her favorite things to do are to unplug the TV, especially when Lucy is watching her favorite movie (Lucy gets so mad and is getting really good at no, no norah!), she pushes buttons on the cable box, and pull books and movies off of the shelves, (Dave calls her a squirrel) oh and she eats anything off of the floor and I wonder why she has been sick most of the winter, I'm sure she is addicted to Motrin and Benadryl by now. Speaking of eating, Dave has a new nickname for her, McNorah (as in McDonalds) because she eats anything you put in front of her. She eats more than Lucy does now. If she gets fussy I put her in her high chair and put food in front of her and she is happy. It's awesome. She is starting to grow some fuzz on her head (fuzzhead is another nickname for her) she is not the dark haired Norah I pictured she would be but I will take her the way she is. She is a very happy, content baby and I just love her so much!

I am so so lucky!

Ahhhh, it's so good to be caught up, it's another productive all nighter, why not.

Randoms...

2010-02-22T02:46:00.001-05:00

These are some of my random favorites...

Lucy drinking my hot chocolate with her favorite wizard of oz shoes.

We went to Walmart and I told Lucy that if she was really good I would let her pick something little to take home, well she chose this purple dinosaur soap. Later that evening while they were taking a bath I heard Lucy just busting up laughing so I went into see what she was laughing at and she had been drawing on Norah's head. They are so funny. Look at Norah's cute little teeth.

Lucy is ready for preschool, do you think she likes pink? Guess how long it took for her to get dressed (head to toe)? Could've taken maybe 5 minutes, but no it took 15 because she didn't want any help but she was so proud of herself. I'm pretty proud of her. Norah is proud too.

Another "I do it myself" expression. Note the outfit below. I don't fight with her about what to wear anymore, I just let her do it. Someday she will look at these pictures and laugh. I got some very funny looks at the store that day.

Lucy sharing some popcorn with Norah. We had to have the "it's so nice of you to share but she is too little to eat popcorn" talk. Atleast she is sharing.

They are so cute, they will always be best buds.

Norah and her favorite church friend, Jarvis. If I ever wonder where Norah went I just look for Jarvis and there she is. So cute!

Daddy and his girls, what would he do without them.

I love this picture of Norah, she has such big eyes, they are staying blue so far.

My mom sent this pink skirt to Lucy for Christmas for dress up purposes but Lucy really wanted to wear it to church so I let her. There were many cute comments made about it. My favorite part is her hair that day. I'm telling ya she is not cooperative especially in the morning with combing the hair stuff so I do my best. It's adds to her personality, it's cute.

I'm pretty sure Dave did her hair this day.. it's okay babe, atleast you tried. This is hands down one of my favorite pictures if her.

We went to dinner after one of our friends, Martin, was baptized. Can you find Norah? Yep, she is by Jarvis! Ha Ha. I love it!

This is my favorite picture of Norah. She is such a cute little bug. She has a little fuzz growing on that bald head of hers. Yay!!

Dear Lucy, those fries are supposed to be in your tummy not on those toothpicks.

I love my 2 little girlies!

Big Events/Holidays 09 etc...

2010-02-22T00:58:00.000-05:00

This is a shortened version of events/holidays in 2009...

I can't believe that Lucy is old enough to go to preschool! Covenant Preschool is a Presbyterian Church in the neighborhood that a lot of the girls in the ward take their kids to. It's a great little place and Lucy loves it! Sometimes she shows up with her pants, shirt, and/or shoes on backward (because she won't let me help her), and hair not combed (because she won't hold still and we are late again!!!... and not because of me :), several times I have come to pick her up and one of her teachers has fixed her little pony cause its in her eyes or whatever. Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Muhl are her teachers this year and they always tell me what a cute little girl she is. She brings home something new everyday to add to our fridge collection. Each day I have to secretly take a couple of things down and recycle them, if you know what I mean, she would throw a fit if she noticed something was missing. She is in the 3's class and goes Tuesday and Thursday from 9-11:30 am. She loves her M&M backpack (packpack) she's so cute.

In September my mom, Jenny (my sis), my Aunt Lisa, Jayne and Kate (cousins) and Penny (Kate's baby girl) came to Columbus for the Country Living Fair. It was so fun to have them all here. We had so much fun and it's a memory I will never forget. I miss them all so much! I wish they could come more often.

For our 8th year wedding anniversary Dave surprised me with a trip to a bed and breakfast in London. Yep, you heard me right. London. London, Ohio. We took the girls and had such a fun time. It's so funny because it's randomly become a tradition that we always go to a bed and breakfast place and take the kids.. but it always seems to be some old creepy antique place with cats (we will have to work on that next year) but we don't care it's just fun to be together because that's what it's all about. I will spare all of you with the cheesy anniversary messages.

Our first halloween in Columbus was really fun. We took the girls to "Boo at the Zoo" a night, which I have no idea where those pics are otherwise I would post them, ward party with trunk-or-treat, scavenger hunt at the local grocery store (which by the way, Giant Eagle is one of the chains out here and they have an "Eagles nest" where you can drop your kids off while you grocery shop, whoever came up with that is genius!!) Trick-or treating of course, Lucy couldn't decide if she wanted to be Tinkerbell or a princess so I bought a princess dress and added wings, whatever makes her happy. She looked really cute. Norah dressed up as a baby this year :). I didn't even think to dress her up, it didn't really matter because it was so cold that she was bundled up in the stroller all night anyway. Next year.

Lucy and some of the neighborhood kids.

My 2 little girlies!

Dave gets 2 weeks off this year so he decided to take one week off at Thanksgiving so we planned a little getaway to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was a really pretty drive and always so cool to see other parts of the country. We went to this really cool aquarium, probably the best ones I've ever been to. I love this picture.

I thought this pic was cute of dad and the girls.

Lucy and daddy, they are so cute together! We ate, slept, explored, shopped, etc. We went on this really cool tram ride at this huge ski resort, at the top there is a mall with a skating rink and little shops and stuff, it was really cool. We had so much fun. It was nice to relax and just hang out together.

Dave played in the annual ward turkey bowl and wore cleats that were too small and came home with 2 black toenails. Since he's such an awesome Dr he decided to cure himself and poke holes in his nails to relieve the pressure. I had to post the picture, sorry. We made it home in time for Thanksgiving day which was really fun. We had dinner with the Hymas, Rasmussen, and Burt family. We love them so much and are so thankful for their friendships. It made out first holiday away from home a very memorable one, of course I didn't get any pictures :( I wasn't really thinking.

First Christmas in Columbus and Merry 1st Christmas to Norah! Christmas was pretty chill this year which was really nice. On Christmas Eve we took the girls to "Princess and the Frog" and ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Martin and Kayla. Christmas day we opened presents and then had some friends over for dinner and games. New Years was pretty quiet. Dave was on call so me and the girls got chinese take-out and went home and watched TV. At midnight I was folding the mound of laundry that had been piling up on my couch and Lucy was watching a movie in my bed so I went and got her and we watched the ball drop together and then we went to bed. Pretty exciting!!

In January Lucy, Norah, and I took a trip back to Utah for a winter break since we didn't make it back for the holidays. We also wanted to see Sean (my brother), he returned from his mission in Minnesota so we wanted to spend some time with him. We did so many fun things while we were there. Now that I live away from home I look back at all of the things I used to take for granted like having someone to go to Sonic with and get a drink, or go to the mall and get lunch, simple things like that. We used to do it all of the time but now I would kill just to be able to call my sisters or mom and have them meet me at Target, Costco or whatever just to get out.. now they are too far away :( I still have yet to find a coke friend, sad but true. Okay, I lied, Lucy is my coke friend, she's always up for a little coke, but it's not the same. Anyway, that was all kind of random but it was fun to go back and visit and those mall, Target, Sonic etc trips mean so much more than they ever did before. I miss you guys. Come see me soon.

Norah and Uncle Sean. We love you Nusk and are so glad that we were able to come see you. OSU is calling your name. We have a very lonely futon right now... you could come to the mall with me.. Sonic? I'll buy you some popcorn chicken? I love you dawg.

Random summer 09 pics

2009-09-14T16:46:00.000-04:00

These two are the best of friends. I love seeing the interaction between them. Lucy laughs at her, bugs her, picks on her etc but Norah doesn't care she just laughs, talks, and smiles back.

My little stinker of a 3 year old. I love her little laugh. I'm the luckiest mom ever to have these two little girls. They make me very happy... and sometimes very mad :)

That better not be a thumb I see in the little mouth of hers. Dang, it is!

We have been to the zoo a lot this summer. One Saturday Dave took Lucy to the zoo for a little daddy/Lucy time and took these cute pictures.

When she came home to tell me about the zoo she showed me how she touched the lizards tail and screamed and ran away. Dave said she barely touched it and that it took her forever to do cause she was scared. It's so cute every time she tells the story. I can't believe how well she remembers things.

Norah is rolling around everywhere. I can't believe she is 4 months. She has been such a stinker. How does she know when I am trying to shower and get out of the door or when I am doing dishes or laundry. She is so good except for when I have things I really need to do, then she decides to screams. Kills me every time!

She gives me this face a hundred times a day. Lucy laughs so hard when she looks at us that way. Classic Norah face!

Decorating a lovely green hat at the Irish Festival.

I love this picture! I just want to mug on her.

What a good summer!

Quack Quack!

2009-09-14T16:31:00.000-04:00

We have severely deprived our child, such bad parents we are. We went to check out one of the metro parks (Ohio has some cool, huge parks) and there was this lake with a ton of ducks. We went over to look at them and there were these ladies (listening to rap music on their phone, we thought was kind of funny) anyway, they had a huge thing of bread so they gave some to Lucy. She was in heaven and loved every second of it. We were watching her out of the corner our eyes and we see her throw a piece of bread to the ducks and then we would see her eat a piece, then the duck would get some more bread and so would Lucy. It was so cute! Dave decided to go WT for the day. JK.

I can't stop laughing! She is so dang cute!

Feeding the ducks again at a different pond close by our house.

Fun stuff!

It's better than watching Dragon Tales again.

Band aid anyone?

2009-09-14T16:16:00.001-04:00

Lucy loves band aids! If she is ever screaming bloody murder because she barely stubbed her toe, we ask her if she wants a band aid and she instantly stops crying.

I think Lucy gets kind of bored sometimes. Norah had some little scratches on her face (cutting her nails was on my list of things to do) and since Lucy thinks she needs a band aid for everything she thought that Norah would feel better if she had some band-aids on her face. You can see Norah is really suffering from those little scratches... She is smiling so big in this picture and laughing because we are laughing at her. What a cute little bug!

Band aid #1

Band aid #2

I love it!

I'm a big kid now!

2009-09-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

Lucy, Norah, and I took a little trip to Target. I let her pick out a couple packs of "undies" and took her home and let her put them on. She picked out some princess ones (suprise, suprise) and I told her that if she pooped or peed on the princess that she would be so sad. She has been so awesome! I wanted to start a long time ago but felt like if we started too soon and she wasn't ready that it would be a nightmare. I didn't want to force it on her either since we were going to have so many changes. I'm glad that we waited because it has been so easy. She is funny because she never has accidents with number 1 but every time she has to go number 2 she asks for a pull-up, atleast she knows when she needs to go, so we count that. She doesn't go in her undies so we consider it done. I don't know what it is about pooping in the potty, I hear she is not the only one who feels that way, we will have to work on that. I'm just happy it's done because she started her first day of preschool and that was our goal. Yay! Good job Lucy!

I love Norah just chillin' in the background.

Happy wedding Bee!

2009-09-14T14:51:00.000-04:00

My sister Candice got married in August so we went back to Utah for the festivities.

My cute family at the temple after the ceremony. I miss them.

My sister-in-law was the photographer and she took this picture of us. I love Norah's face.

Some of my best friends, my mom and sisters. I love you guys!

My Arizona sister, Sarah. Love her so much and her kids, so cute. Lucy loves Tato and "funny hair" baby Sadie.

Candice and her new sweetheart, Douglas (but we like to call him Dug). I just want him to know that I am still bitter that he made fun on my favorite blue shorts and the fact that I LOVE angel food "loaf".

Lucy and Kade. They are the best of friends but fight like they are brother and sister.

Waiting for the bride and groom to come out of the temple.

Norah, such a sweetheart.

Thanks for letting us be a part of the wedding. We love you guys. Bee and Dug forever.

Miss Independant!

2009-09-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

I DO IT! END OF STORY!

Happy Birthday Luly!

2009-09-14T13:36:00.000-04:00

Ah man! I have been such a blog slacker. I thought that since I wasn't working and that I would just be home hanging out with the kids that I would have all of this free time to do whatever I wanted. Ha ha yeah right. Taking care of two little ones is harder that I thought it would be but I love them so much. I can't believe Lucy is 3. It seems like yesterday that she was born. I love you Luce. Here are some pics of her big day.

We went to the zoo (the Columbus zoo is one of the biggest in the country, and I'm glad that we have a pass because it takes a couple of hours to see one part of it. That way we can go for a couple of hours and go back another day and not feel guilty about it, that was random). It was so fun and it's even more fun that we have some new very fun friends that we love so much!

They have a petting zoo that is pretty cool. The kids loved it.

Lucy is trying to feed him hay. Funny!

Lucy and her new best friends. They all came over for cake and ice cream.

Lucy got a new princess tricycle, she is still trying to figure out how to make it move but she will get it someday. She tries so hard.

She got this new crown from one of her friends and she absolutely loves it. She wears it on a daily basis.

She also got a Barbie doll, which is the greatest idea because she won't get in the tub without it.

Princess and the Pauper. Can't say she ever watches this movie :).... it's one of her favorites.

This was dads idea.. a pink soccer ball with the pricesses on it. I think he secretly wishes it were his.

We had cupcakes and ice cream with our friends and their kids. It's fun because there are so many kids that are around her age. I love how she is showing us how she is three.

We have this massive tree in our front yard and perfect for a swing. We spend a lot of time swinging. She lives for dads underdogs.

Great idea dad, I think this is her favorite birthday present. I think Norah will agree in the next year, if Lucy will share that is.

Happy birthday to my baby girl!

Happy 4th of July

2009-08-02T17:53:00.000-04:00

The 4th of July is a huge Clark family celebration. My mom drove out to Ohio with us and helped us get settled. We flew back with her on June 25th to spend the 4th together. Dave wasn't able to come because he had just started residency. They are keeping him really busy so he didn't even have a second to miss us :)

Norah's cute 4th of July outfit.

I love my little Lucy! She is a stinker but a sweetheart at the same time. She looks so sweet and innocent.

Me and my cute sisters, Jen and Candice. I miss them so much!

Classic Norah face. I love it!

Awww... so sweet!

Me and Lucy at the Provo parade. It's not really as cool as I remember but the kids love it and it's tradition.

What a fun day and vacation back to see the family and celebrate the 4th. Happy Birthday America!

Columbus here we come!

2009-08-02T14:50:00.000-04:00

We left our home in Utah on June 15th and and drove for 3 straight days... no joke. We drove all day, slept a couple hours in a hotel, drove another whole day, etc etc etc... We saw some beautiful country and some not so beautiful country. We ate a lot of fast food, twinkies, candy bars, chips, and gas station popcorn, drank a lot of coke, (which I was not heartbroken about... or any of the above), spent a lot of money on gas, made many pit stops, listened to some great mixed cd's that are really old and scratched up (I ended up throwing a ton away), some great conversation, singing (mostly old macdonald, give said the little stream, little mermaid, etc) and a lot of other fun stuff that you do on really long road trips with a 6 week old and a terrible 2. It was fun but I can't say I will be driving back and forth to Utah again soon... hopefully never :) It really wasn't that bad.

Here is Jude (is what we call her) or my sweet sweet mom that drove many of the miles while I took care of the kids smashed in between their car seats, multi tasking. I couldn't of done it without her. Thanks mom! I love you and owe you big.

We did a lot of this kind of thing, mostly to distract Lucy from escaping out of her car seat after her dvd player ran out of batteries. She lasted about 5 hours and then started to get anxious... so to pass the time we made Norah do funny faces. Poor Norah. It made us laugh and she will never remember, right?

Here is Lucy, almost 3 years old and sucking on her dang binkie, it kept her happy so we let her suck away.

Tears of joy when I saw this... we finally made it! It only took us 30 hours, yes 30 hours. It was supposed to only take us 24 hours.

Penske did the job just fine. Dave drove the truck towing his car behind and we followed. It was so fun :) Glad it's over.

It was a memorable road trip that I will never forget. Cute pic guys! I love you!

Ludlow reunion

2009-08-02T14:07:00.000-04:00

In june, less than a week before we packed up and moved we went up to Sundance for a family reunion to enjoy the mountains one more time before moving to the land of trees. It was so fun to get together and spend some quality time with each other. Here are some pics that we took.

Me and my girls, Norah and Lucy. Norah was 6 weeks old, Lucy almost 3.

All of the Ludlow grandkids. Lucy is so cute standing on the end. It's crazy that she is not a baby anymore, she is a such a big girl.

Our family, daddy loves having a family of girls and no, there is not baby barf coming out of Norah.

Awww... So cute! Lucy loves being a big sister.

All of the Ludlow bros and sisters with their husbands and of course the best part... the wives.

Thanks for the fun times and memories.

Goodbye...

2009-07-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

Goodbye to my favorite little home. I think one of the things I miss the most is my little house. We have so many memories there.

I will never forget the way I felt when everything was moved out. It made me really sad. We stayed at my parents overnight after everything was moved out. The next morning we had to drop some things by the house for our renters before we headed out. Lucy hadn't seen the house empty yet. Anyway, she came inside with me and was so confused when her crib wasn't there. We worked our way upstairs (her favorite thing to do in the morning was to eat pancakes and watch cartoons on our bed) she walked over to the fridge and asked for a pancake and then ran into the bedroom to find the bed, tv, etc was gone. She came out and said "mom, mom, "wook" all gone!" Ah, I will never forget how it made me feel. The move was very hard, overwhelming, and stressful for me. It was really scary for me to move across the country away from my family and friends for the first time. Not knowing what it was going to be like made me really nervous but you know what... we made it to Ohio and I love it! I love my new little house and I love my new friends. The ward is great and the area is beautiful! We are really happy here. I miss my old life and everything that we left behind but I am really excited for what is to come in the next 5 years. I'm sure when residency is over I will feel the same way moving from Ohio to wherever we end up. Thanks for all of the love and support from everyone. You helped me and our family more than you will ever know.

Ironman!

2009-07-26T21:24:00.000-04:00

So what can I say? I have a money husband. I am so proud of him! He worked really hard and trained for 4 months to get ready to dominate. We went up to Burley, Idaho at the beginning of June to cheer him on. He did the Viking Man which is a 1.3 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a half marathon (13.3 miles). Crazy! I thought I was cool running a 10 K last summer, big whoop to what he did. He trained really hard and did a great job! He finished 4th place in his age group. Nice! I think it is awesome!

Mac and Jared (friends from med school) participated as well. It was a fun little weekend for us. Good job babe!

Norah's blessing

2009-06-01T02:11:00.000-04:00

We blessed Norah on Sunday May 24, 2009 at my parents home in Provo. Thank you to everyone who came and even a bigger thank you to my mom and dad for letting us have the blessing there. My mom is the biggest sweetheart in the world and just jumped in to help plan and arrange for food and make other preperations to make it happen and have it be a nice day... and it was. A big thanks to her for being the best mom ever!

Here is a picture of everyone that participated in the blessing.

Norah was so calm and didn't make a sound the whole time. What a good baby she is.
Her daddy gave such a beautiful blessing. Her name means light, which is so appropriate for the kind of spirit she has. We are so thankful that she is a part of our family. She has definately brought so much light into my life. I love her so much!

Norah and dady after the blessing.

I love being a mommy, especially hers and am so thankful for Dave and Lucy as well.

What a cute picture of great Grandma Ludlow with Norah. She is soooo cute! I think her great grandpa would be proud as well. He passed away in Febuary this past year and is greatly missed.

My cute little family. I'm so lucky/blessed to have 2 healthy and happy little s and a good husband. I love my life!

My mom and dad with Norah. They are the best parents ever. We are going to miss them so much when we move to Ohio.

Four generations in this picture. My gradma (my mom's mom), my mom, me, and Norah. My grandma is the best. She never forgets any occasion and makes the cutest blankets for all of her great grandchildren. Thanks for always remembering us. We love you so much and are so happy that you were able to come.

Grandma with Norah.

Peacefully sleeping and posing at the same time with her eyes partly open. Cute!

I absolutely love this picture of Sadie and Norah. Sadie is so chill and looking at Norah like she is some crazy baby. I swear Norah really is so calm and that she really didn't cry and scream all day, just when someone tried to take her picture.

Not really sure why this pictue didn't really work out but this pic is of all of my sisters and my mom. I love them so much and am not going to know what to do without them to keep me company. I guess we will just have to fly out and see eachother quite a bit. I'm feel kind of lost without them in my life. I love you guys. Thanks for loving me and my cute kids.

Norah, my little bug, I love you so so much! I am happy that you had a good day and are so grateful for everyone that came to share your day with you. Thanks again to everyone. We love you all.

Happy Graduation Dr. EZO

2009-06-01T00:48:00.000-04:00

It is official! My husband is done with medical school. I am so proud of him! Graduation was at Kingbury Hall on Saturday May 23, 2009. What a great day!

Sweet pose!

Brady, Dave, and Matt... they were all PHS Bulldogs together!
Go Provo High!

We left Lucy at home so it was just the 3 of us but don't worry we let her come to dinner with us after. I don't think she would have sat through more than 5 minutes of graduation.

My parents came for the festivities. Thanks to them for all of their love and support for the last 4 years and always, they are the best!

Of course the proud parents were there as well.

Congrats ! I love you so much! I am so glad you are done with school forever... atleast you better be :)

Norah and Lucy

2009-05-31T00:48:00.000-04:00

We are home and adjusting to a new little one in the house. Here are some random pictures... Lucy always wants to help with Norah. Lately every little bump and bruise Lucy gets she thinks she needs a bandaid. If you look close to this picture you can see that she has put some bandaids on Norah's legs, not that she has any bumps or bruises... she just lays there. Pretty funny!

If you have ever nursed a baby then you know what this little contraption is. A breast pump... so fun. Boo! Since my baby is the slowest eater in the whole world I find it easier to pump and give her a bottle.. Lucy likes the breast pump as well as you can see. Too bad it is in the wrong place.

She also likes to feed Norah her bottle. Too bad Lucy likes her bink more than her newborn baby sister. Argh!

This is my fancy new BOB double jogger that Dave bought me for Mother's Day. Not only can I take the girls on a run, walk, or whatever, it can also go to the zoo, mall etc. It has all sorts of cool things that makes it the perfect stroller. Thanks babe! What a great present.

I think Lucy sits in this baby bouncer more than Norah does. Little stinker! She is a little big for it, don't you think?

I came home one afternoon to find the girls both sound asleep. It was so cute that Dave had put a divider in between the two of them.

Norah having a little bath at Grandma's house. Thanks for bathing her for me while I recovered.

I love having a little baby around. They are a lot of work but so much fun!

Baby Norah Jane

2009-05-30T22:56:00.000-04:00

My due date (4/28/09) rolled around and the baby was still not here. I went in to see Dr. Park and nothing had changed since I saw him the previous week. I was still not dilated or effaced and the baby was still really high. I wanted to try a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) hoping my body would cooperate, but it wasn't. I mostly wanted to try it that way because of a faster recovery, it is better for the baby and for my body, and just for the experience although I hear it isn't much fun. Dr. Park told me I could wait another week to see if she would come on her own but if I went another week with no baby I would be 41 weeks and since he wouldn't induce me because I had a C-section with Lucy (risk of uterine rupture) I would be having a C-section anyway. I didn't want to wait another week and the Dr was pretty confident that I would be having a C-section anyway because of the way things were looking. Dave and I were both fine with the C-section and felt it would be best to just get the baby here. We have so much going on in the next couple of months with moving, family stuff, etc we figured it was a good decision. The C-section was scheduled for Wednesday April 29, 2009 at noon at IMC (intermountain medical center). I was so excited to know that it was going to be over and that I would have a new little baby!

This is me before the surgery just hanging out waiting for the Dr to come.

This is such a cool picture (I think) some may think it is a little too much to put on my blog because it is kinda bloody but I love it! Look at her cute little head before she is even breathing on her own. Dave got the coolest video of her being born. It really is the most amazing thing in the whole wide world.

Here is our baby... old man Norah. That is what we call her, maybe not so much anymore but she looks like a little old man. Look at her hair line and wrinkles on her forehead. She looks so different now, well atleast she doesn't look like an old man anymore. She was born at 12:57 pm and was 6 lbs 7 ounces and 19 inches long.

This is me and Norah... don't I look lovely?

Daddy and baby Norah. I love this picture!

This is Lucy meeting Norah for the first time. We weren't sure how she would react but she loved her from the very beginning, giving her kisses and calling her sweetheart since we didn't have a name for her yet. It was so fun!

My mom, Jen, and Candice picked up Lucy and took care of her while I was having the C-section so they were all there right after her birth. I was so happy that they were there. I am so thankful for my family. They helped us so much with Lucy while I was in the hospital and after we got home. Dave had to fly out to Ohio on May 1st for some residency stuff and to find a place for us to live so we went down and stayed at my parents house while he was gone. I couldn't have done it without their help. Thanks guys. I love you!

Here is our little family. I love it! So fun!

We decided to name her Norah. I had loved that name all along but we both always said we would wait until she was born to decide forsure. I loved Norah Elizabeth but Dave like Norah Jane better and since I decided on Norah I thought I would let him choose the middle name and I love it just as much.

Big sister Lucy and baby sister Norah, or Dora, which is what Lucy calls her.

This is such a classic Norah face. It looks like she is pooping, which she probably really is.

Norah's first carseat ride to home sweet home. Yay!

Daddy's girls, all home together for the first time.

Norah is such a good baby. She is so content and is such a good sleeper and eater. She has this quiet little cry when she is hungry or needs to be changed but other than that she is so chill. I love it! Norah, we love you so much. We are so glad that you were sent to our family.

I know this is kind of random but on Memorial Day we went down to the Provo cemetary and I didn't realize that my great great grandma (Lucy and Norah's great great great grandma) has both of their middle names. Lucy Bee and Norah Jane. I knew about Bee when we named Lucy but didn't think about Jane. Now I love the names even more knowing that they have the names of their great x3 grandma. Pretty cool, I think!

Vegas 09

2009-04-26T23:51:00.000-04:00

My parents have a time share in Vegas at Polo Towers right off of the strip and they always plan a fun spring break trip. We weren't planning on going this year because of the baby coming but when I went to my Dr's appt that morning nothing was happening and I had already worked my shifts for the week so we decided to get out of the snowy weather and join the fun. I'm so glad we did because it was awesome! I love going down there although I was a little nervous being less than 2 weeks away from my due date walking all around Vegas but as I publish this post (April 26th) there is still no baby so I am soooo glad we went to pass the time and hang out with the family. Who knows when we will beable to make it again, atleast for the next 5 years.

Since Lucy LOVES animals we decided to check out the Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden at the Mirage. It was so cool and she loved it! So did we!

This was the coolest tiger. We got a million pictures of it but I thought this one was cute with Lucy and dad together.

This white tiger was so pretty. You don't see these kind of animals at the regular zoo so it was extra cool.

These lions were amazing. They were up walking around, it was so cool. They are such pretty animals.

This is Lucy swimming, well, taking a little break and getting some sun. Poor thing got a little sunburned eventhough I caked sunscreen on her, I guess that is what you get for being so pasty, huh Luly? The weather was 80's and beautiful! She stole my coke and corn nuts while I wasn't watching, little stink, but she was happy so it was all good.

This was the view from our room. We love it there!

Lucy didn't get any attention the whole trip... yeah right. She was the only little one there so she had plenty of attention. This is her swimming with Jen, Jordan, Candice, and Doug (which by the way got engaged a couple of nights ago, Yay!) Polo Towers has a huge pool and hot tub on the top of the building so it stays plenty warm up there and we love to hang out there during the day. We did plenty of walking, sight seeing, shopping, eating out, sleeping, talking, and of course we snuck in a little blackjack. What a good weekend! Thanks for letting us come. We love it down there!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-14T23:18:00.000-04:00

My mom had a fun easter egg hunt for all of the grandkids and it was so fun! The kids loved it too.

We took a thousand pictures trying to get all of the kids to look at the camera. Good joke!

The Easter bunny came to see Lucy after church. I made a big deal about how he came to see her so she came into the family room and looked at her basket to see what was inside and then went back into the bedroom where her movie was playing. She couldn't have cared less about it. Maybe next year she will understand a little better and be a little more excited. I had to work that night so afte church we took naps and that was about as exciting as our day got.

Lucy in her cute Easter dress. Too bad it was cold outside, I had to add the long sleeve white turtleneck underneath. I attempted to put on her tights and brown shoes to match but she freaked out and wanted to wear her plastic blue crocs so instead of fighting with her I gave in. Needless to say, she had a really cute dress on and her dumpy blue crocs on.

We hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!

My, animals!

2009-04-13T05:52:00.000-04:00

Lucy is my favorite little girl in the whole wide world.

She is such a cute little girl but she is definately not a girlie girl. She likes dolls okay but she is not really into all of the princess stuff and dress-ups like most little girls. One morning I came home from work and she was sound asleep with her plastic horses (mommy horse and baby horse), her stuffed kittie and puppy, and rubber lizard by her side (no joke, this is really what I found one morning). So funny! We went to Target the other day and out of all of the toys we looked at she chose a plastic cow, the one you can see her holding in the above picture. I love it! She also has a little barn with animals that go inside (she plays with them in the tub and out as well) and loves her plastic pet baby snake. We can't go anywhere without taking some kind of animal with us. She makes the cutest noises as she plays with them and I love to watch her. It makes me smile every time. She also loves movies with animals. Dave is so excited for the weather to be warm so he can take her to the zoo, she loves the zoo. We just became members of the Columbus zoo so now we have passes to go anytime we want as much as we want once we get all moved. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time there.

I love this cute little face of hers.

She has a book that we have read a million times, she calls it her animal book. She absolutely loves it. She knows every animal and what each one says. It takes forever to read through but seeing the smile on her face as we read it together makes the time spent all worth it. I wonder what her next obsession will be?

Pregnant.. officially not fun anymore!

2009-04-13T02:28:00.000-04:00

Beware! If you don't want to read about some serious complaining then don't read this post. It is for my own venting purposes.

April 28th isn't coming fast enough! These last few weeks have been dragging and I am grumpy! I forgot how miserable it is to be pregnant. I'm lucky that I don't get sick. My sister told me that she hated people like me (because she gets so sick) although if this next baby is anything like Lucy... I would rather be sick for 9 months than listen to a baby scream for the first full year of her life, my sister has easy mellow babies and I do not, maybe this next one will be better. I know I shouldn't complain because I know that there are a lot of women in the world that are unable to have babies and would do anything to feel what I feel... like heartburn, being constipated, being extremely moody and wanting to cry about everything, not being able to sleep (which I am not fun to be around when I am tired, just ask my poor husband) or rest for that matter not to mention the crazy dreams, eating breakfast at 3am cause I'm starving, having major anxiety about whether she is going to be normal or if she is growing okay, moving as much as she should etc, pure exhaustion (especially after working nights and then going home to take care of a toddler all day, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and everything else a mom and wife are expected to do on top of working... being a mom/wife is a thankless job I have found, therefore no decent sleep for over 24 hrs, won't miss that when I'm done working and... I hate people that have never worked nights and don't understand how hard it really is to go without sleep and then have to function, maybe they should try it and then tell me how tired they are... I have no sympathy, no I'm not bitter!), not being able to exercise like normal, constant back pain, weight gain everywhere, not being able to sit in a normal position for more than 5 minutes without feeling like I'm going to pass out because I can't breathe, having to go to the bathroom every hour (no joke!), and just feeling blah all of the time. I can't wait to be back to normal and have my energy back and do everything that I used to do without having to rest every 10 minutes. I feel like my life is on hold until she comes. I could go on but I feel bad complaining because in the end I know it will all be worth it. I do have to say that I love feeling her kick inside of me and see her little movements. So cool! In a couple of months I will look back at this post and be so thankful that it is all over... I can't wait to put my running shoes on and just run and feel good about myself again.

I'm 34 weeks in the above picture and still growing. I'm 38 weeks now and am not posting any pictures because they aren't cute anymore.

I had to post this picture of Jen (my sis) and Rylee (my niece). Every fast Sunday my mom has dinner for everyone at her house and she gets a fun cake and we sing to all of the kids that have birthdays that month, Jen and Rylee are both April babies. I got all excited that next year my baby's name will be on that cake for the month of April (she better not have a May birthday, ha ha). It is such a fun tradition that my mom has continued to do over the years. The grandkids love it and will always remember her for always doing something fun for their birthdays.

So I continue to wonder... what will her name be? What will she look like? What will labor be like? When will she decide to come see us? Lucy gives her kisses and pushes on my stomach and says "mobe (move) baby mobe" and "come see us soon", and I love that she calls her sweetheart. I'm so excited for them to meet! My Dr won't induce me because I had a C-section with Lucy (risk of uterus rupturing) so I am in it for the long haul if I continue to think that a VBAC is what I really want, I'm really not so sure. A C-section was so nice and sounds so good about now although I know it is major surgery and a longer recovery. As of this very moment, nothing is going on so I have a feeling that I won't be delivering 2 weeks early like I did with Lucy, dang it! I am a little nervous... I never went into labor with Lucy, never had a contraction, nothing, so this is going to be a whole new experience for me. I know women give birth every single day and that it is a natural thing (not that I am doing it natural or anything) but it is scary and I am not excited to give birth but I am so excited for what comes after. Another sweet little baby girl to love and take care of. I love being a mom and although I complain about being pregnant I am very thankful to be. She better be dang cute! Pretty sure she will be! I will post pics as soon as she arrives. Yay! I can't wait! Bring on the contractions already!

Lucy... so BIG!

2009-04-13T00:03:00.000-04:00

My little Lucy isn't so little anymore. I can't believe how big she is getting. I thought these pictures of her were so cute so I thought that I would post them.

She hates getting her teeth brushed but for some reason this night she was happy to be brushing her teeth. I love her little face smiling in the mirror. She loves her mermaid electric toothbrush, except for when it's mommy's turn to help. Notice the step stool (see below as well) I love that she keeps finding random things to stand on, whatever works I guess.

I bought her a little make-up set because she kept getting into mine. She just wants to be big like mommy and I found this cute little girl make-up that she loved so I got it for her. It was so cute watching her in the mirror as she put it on. She smiled and kept making the cutest faces like she was all big and grown up. Of course I made a big deal about her getting so big hoping that someday it will click that big girls don't suck on binkies... yes, she still has her binkie. Ugh! It makes the world a better place for the both of us so whatever, although she only has it at night and sometimes at home when she is sad or sleepy. I refuse to let her take it outside of the house so that is a step I guess.

I was in the kitchen one night and kept hearing plastic being stepped on and wondered what it was so I went into to see what she was up to and she had pulled the package of diapers up to the light switch so that she could turn on the lights all by herself. It was so cute. How does she come up with some of her ideas?

Some of her latest things are "I do it!" or if she doesn't want to it's mommy do it or daddy do it, or Lucy's turn, mommy's turn etc. She comes up with random games like throwing her number/color cups across the room to you while you build a tower for her then she knocks it down (she could play it all day). She loves to sing... I have this disney cd with all kinds of songs on it and she loves the mermaid songs and the mulan song. Every time we get in the car she demands that she listens to it.. she doesn't always get her way, but when she does she sings her little heart out and if you sing along with her she screams at you. She loves to dress herself, take her own diaper off and throw it away, and mostly everything she does she wants to do by herself, it must be the age. Her favorite color is orange atleast that is the color she always picks, which is so random. I love when she says "of course" (we never say that so I don't know where she heard it), "I'm coming" and "wook" (look). She gets cuter and cuter everyday. It melts my heart when she says "I la lu mommy" (I love you mommy). She is going to be such a good big sister. I'm assuming this is normal but I worry that she will feel left out or feel like we don't love her as much when the baby comes because it has only been the 3 of us for the last 2+ years. I am going to try and give her as much attention as I normally do but I never want her to feel less important. I'm going to be a busy mom trying to take care of 2 little ones. I know it will be fine but I have to admit, I am a little nervous about it. I also have to admit that I am very excited! Luce, I will always love you and you will always be my baby. I don't know what I would do without my little Luly!

Official Match Day

2009-03-22T22:58:00.000-04:00

Yay! March 19th was the official day of the Match. Since Dave decided to do urology it was an early match for him so we knew back in January where he would be doing residency but this day was when all of the festivities happen and the day that the rest of the class finds out where they match. The school had a brunch in the morning for the students and their families and that is when they handed out all of the official letters. I was so glad that we already knew where we were going because that room got really intense for a couple minutes while everyone opened their letters. I got a little teary eyed mostly because I remember how anxious I was finding out where we were going and we were at home, I can't imagine how everyone must of felt finding out in front of everyone. I imagine it feels like getting a mission call, you really don't know what that letter is going to say until you open it.

Dave decided to join in on all of the fun and open his letter and pretend to be really suprised that he matched in Ohio.

It is all official now that he has his letter... It was so cool to see where everyone matched. There were alot of happy tears as well as some not so happy tears. Mine were happy tears and I was a very proud wife that day. What an accomplishment!

They had everyone come up one by one to announce where they matched and mark their destinations on the map. Columbus, Ohio here we come. I've heard nothing but good things about where we will be for the next 5 years. I'm really excited but a little nervous at the same time. Our lives are going to be very different and it will be weird to not be close to home but it is going to be so good for us so I couldn't be happier.

That night there was a Match Day party so we got a sitter for Lucy and went. I'm going to miss a lot of our friends that we have met even though I didn't hang out with them a ton. Best of luck to everyone. What a good day! I can't believe it has already come and gone.

Hoops

2009-03-22T22:19:00.001-04:00

Anyone who knows my husband knows that he is obsessed with sports! He was a champ 2 times in one week and he was so excited about it... especially about the awesome T-shirts that they give to the winners after the game is over. This pic is from the regional (ward ball) tournament. It was the ugliest game I have ever seen. I thought for sure someone was going to start a fight. Dave managed to get a bloody nose but survived. Intense game.

U of U med school champs. Syd, Porter, Trace, Brady, and Mark. Dave is going to miss his med school buddies next year. I love that everyday he reminds me that I am married to a champion, and just when I thought basketball was over, March Madness starts. Yipee!!!

Disney on Ice

2009-03-22T21:44:00.000-04:00

I debated whether Lucy to take Lucy to Disney on Ice this year because her attention span is about 10 minutes. I found a killer deal on some tickets the night before and since we didn't have anything going on that night, it was on a Saturday and I didn't have to work for once, I bought them. I was so excited to take her!

At first she didn't really know what was going on but by the end she was up dancing and singing and demanded that it start over again. Again, Again! At intermission they were selling these cute Scuttle hats with cotton candy and I couldn't resist. She wanted the hat and I wanted the cotton candy so we were both happy. After we were walking back to the car and she had the hat on backwards but was walking forward.. it looked pretty funny so I snapped a couple of pics.

She loves Mickey Mouse etc and we are still hearing about how Goofy fell on his skates onto the ice, she thought it was the funniest thing. Whenever we talk about going to Disney on Ice she reminds us about how Goofy fell.. and then she laughs and laughs about it, it really wasn't that funny but she thought so. They also had Peter Pan, another random movie that she has recently been obsessed with.

Our little family of 3... soon to be 4. I wonder what it will be like. I'm so excited!

Mermaid... she was singing so loud to the music. It was so cute! I have this Disney CD in the car and every time we get in she says Mommy, sing Mermaid... Argh! I have to admit it is pretty cute that she knows every word to Part of this World (she even acts out the end of the song from the movie), Kiss the Girl, and the random Mulan song. She also loves the Snow White and Cinderella song, especially when the mice sing.

It was a very fun night! I am so glad I got tickets. Dave was glad too... just what he wanted to do on a Saturday night. Thanks for coming with us babe. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

Arizona!

2009-03-16T01:08:00.000-04:00

My mom, my sister, Jen, Lucy and I decided to take a little trip to Phoenix to see my sister and her little family. This is baby Sadie. What a big sweetheart she is and such a good baby! Lucy absolutely adored her, which makes me happy because soon enough she will have her own little baby sister to adore. Hopefully she will adore her. I love this pic. It is so cute with them both smiling. Lucy on the carousel at the zoo. We rode this thing a thousand times. Okay, maybe 5 or 6 times but it seemed like a thousand. Kade and Lucy loved it!
We went swimming a day. The weather was high 70's, low 80's... perfect! The water was a little chilly but the kids didn't care.
It doesn't get any better than this. Cereal, sippy cup of milk, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!
Kade and Luly in the tub. They are best buds! I love it. I wished we lived closer. We miss them way too much!
Eating at the Old Country Buffet where the 100 year old man pooped on the floor right behind our table. Disgusting! Poor old man and everyone eating in the entire restaurant. The gummi bears were sure good though, huh Kade and Lucy? Little stinkers.
Riding on the train together at the zoo in Phoenix. It was a toasty day!
Lucy looking at the elephant. She is lately so obsessed with Dumbo. She loved it. Her other favorite animal was the zebra. So random!

Kade and Luly chillin' in the double stroller together, of course.
We took the kids to Chuck N Cheese a night, went shopping at the outlets, ate out alot, sat out in the warm sunshine, slept, and played together down there. I was sad to leave but so happy to get home to see Dave. I missed him while I was gone.

Lucy's daily hair-do

2009-03-16T00:51:00.000-04:00

I love being a mommy! I love giving Lucy a bath and making sure that she is nice and clean. I love that after I do her hair (she requests "hogtails" (pigtails) everyday) she demands a spray of perfume (and she has to smell it) and sparkles (glitter gel) on her nose and cheeks. Then we get in the car to do errands, get lunch or whatever and without fail the next thing I know... she has grease in her hair from fries or chips, whatever it may be... that cute hair is dirty and not really in place anymore. It's all messy! Sometimes I wonder...

What the point is in even doing her hair!

I'm sure I am not the only mom in the world that feels this way. You have some lovely hair Luce and I love you! Maybe someday you will understand why you don't twist your hair with food covering your little hands. It's all good. Atleast you have a cute little face!

Bye, Bye yucky tonsils!!

2009-02-10T03:32:00.001-05:00

The morning of Thursday, February 5th we took Lucy bright and early down to Utah Valley to have her yucky tonsils taken out by Dr. Robbins. She was so ticked that we woke her up early and wouldn't give her a sippy with milk because she couldn't eat or drink anything before her surgery. When we got there we checked in and they had to poke her poor little finger to get some blood and she was so mad (hence the picture below, you can also see the little bandaid on her finger where she was poked). She was grumpy as can be but they took her back and took her vitals and then gave her some oral versed (before they took her away from us and put in her IV) anyway, she was very entertaining, she was rolling around, laughing, and counting her fingers, she was soooo loopy we couldn't help but laugh at her. I even took her bink away from her and she didn't even care. We read a couple of books and put some stickers on her cute little hospital jammies and life wasn't so bad anymore, she was so happy. We didn't wait long and then off she went.She was gone for maybe 45 minutes and the recovery nurse came out to tell us that she was out of surgery and that all went well but that she was really mad and did not like the nurses bugging her. Dave and I looked at each other and smiled, we both could've guessed that was going to happen. We gave the nurse her bink to see if that would help, and it did. About 20 minutes later they brought her out and we walked up to her room on the pediatric floor. Since she was under 3 years old they like to watch them for up to 23 hrs so they put her in a room (although we were only there until late afternoon). It took her a while to calm down and The Little Mermaid was a lifesaver. It was so cute because she was trying to sing along to the music like she always does even though she just had surgery.
This is Lucy, not even 2 hours later after having surgery, roaming the halls. She was so antsy to get out of that room so we took her on a little walk to see the playroom.

Lucy eating a popsicle (pickle is what she calls them) right after surgery. She kept trying to take her IV out, she hated that darn green stuff covering her hand, little did she know what was underneath.
This is where she spent some time after her walk. Pretty amazing she felt up to it! She was happy and content just playing (except that she kept getting tangled in her IV tubing and saying stuck, stuck!). Grandma Judy came and brought her a cute pink and red stuffed lion that roars with a cute card and Aunt Jenny came to say hi as well. After a while she was worn out so we took her back to her room. Dave stayed with her while I went to get lunch at Cafe West with mom and Jen (I was way too excited to eat super nachos there, my ultimate favorite from when I used to work at UVRMC). So good!!!
When I got back to the room we were just chillin' and along came this big black doggie looking to visit the sick babes. Of course Lucy was so excited so they brought the dog in and Lucy was lovin' it! The thing was bigger than she was. It was around 2 pm and she was eating, drinking, and peeing just fine so they told us we could take her home. Of course as soon as they came in to give us discharge instructions etc, she was out like a light so we decided to let her sleep and then go home when she woke up. We left the hospital around 5ish and went to my moms to eat homemade bread and chicken noodle soup. Yum!!! She was an amazing little surgical patient and has recovered so well. Day 4 and 5 have probably been the hardest for her but still have not been too bad. She whimpers a lot and wants us to hold her (I love when she will let me cuddle her although I don't like to see her in pain) but as soon as that pain medicine starts to work she is a whole new little girl. I am so proud of her and how well she has done. I just hope that once she is all healed that she will eat better and not gag and throw up everything she eats. The snoring... gone the first night we were home. Awesome! I hope recovery continues to go well. So far, so good! Yay!!! Good job Luce! You're a rockstar!

Go Jazz!!

2009-02-08T05:41:00.000-05:00

We had a fun date night at the Jazz game thanks to my mom and dad. They bought tics for everyones b-day's this year. All of the Clark siblings and significant others (except Sarah :) cause she is in AZ), were there. We ate dinner at Gateway before the game then ate treats at the game. Love their treats!My husband absolutely hates the Jazz (yeah right, his dream is to own the Jazz one day). I love you babe! It was a fun night to all be together. I am going to miss hanging out with my family when we take off for Ohio, especially nights like these. Go Jazz!

Tepanyaki/Draper Temple

2009-02-08T05:19:00.000-05:00

We had a really fun night out together. We went to my ultimate favorite place to eat, Tepanyaki, for Sambo and Millie's birthday party then we went to the Draper temple open house after. Lucy loved the cookies at the end of the open house and of course had to choose the chocolate one that was all over her white/yellow dress by the end of the night. We had to park at the church and then a bus shuttled us up to the temple... Lucy absolutely LOVED the bus for some reason and was so excited to get on. It was pretty funny. I didn't even know that she knew what a bus was. She is the cutest!I think this little face of hers is so cute. She loves her cousin Quincy, she calls her Quinney. They are the bestest cousins ever.
Eating dinner. I am going to miss Tepanyaki so much! We will have to make it a must every time we come to Utah for a visit. No other Tepanyaki restaurant will ever compare. It is my favorite! I love it!!!
My little Luly! I love you so much!

I could kiss you all day, if you would let me. These kind of nights are my favorite. I love being together as a family and doing something fun together. The temple was really pretty and I love the way it makes me feel when I go there. I am so grateful that I have an eternal family and for the blessings of the temple. I don't know what I would do without my family. They are the best!

Match Day!!!

2009-02-01T00:31:00.000-05:00

Last Monday (January 26th) was Match Day. I was very anxious about it and I know that Dave was stressed about it as well. We were both so relieved and happy to find out that he matched at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. We will be there for 5 years. His dream of being a surgeon is going to come true! No more wondering and stressing (although I am sure there will be plenty of that in the future) about matching or not matching. It is all over. He matched in urology, which is very competitive. I am so proud of him. Congratulations babe!

Our plan now is to get our house up for sale and hopefully have it sold by the time we move in June. We are trying to figure out a time when we can go to Ohio together to check out the area to see where we want to live before I have the baby in April. I'm excited that we will beable to live in a little house close to the hospital so that we can go see Dave when he is on call etc. I'm a little nervous about being so far away from my family but I know that they will come visit alot and I will fly home to see them quite a bit too. I'm excited to move and alot more ready now than I was when he was applying for med school 4 yrs ago but I will really miss having a 20 minute drive down to Provo to hang out with my mom and sisters for the day. I will really miss our little Chandlerpoint townhome too. It will be a really big adjustment but it is going to be so good for us. We are so blessed that everything is falling into place for us. What a good feeling!!!

Christmas 08

2009-01-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve, looks like Santa came to see Lucy. Lucky girl! Christmas morning. Grandma and Grandpa Clark gave this to Lucy and she absolutely loves it! Thanks guys. You always do such fun things for the kids and for us. We love you guys!

A little marble magic, tennis raquet and balls so she can play with mom and dad, her own personal Winnie the Pooh laptop, and a new DVD player to watch her shows were her main presents.

This kept her busy all morning, and every morning I must say.

This is the Disney tent that she got from her Arizona cousins. Dave set it up for her and she camped out in it all day long.

We slept in, made breakfast, opened presents and just hung out. I got some great gifts. It snowed all day and they finally plowed our neighborhood just in time for me to get to work. It was such a fun day. I always hate to see it end.

Our holiday was really fun. Dave had some time off and was able to be home. It was so nice to have him around. Just when I get used to him being home he's gone and busy again. I love when he has breaks and we can just hang out and do fun things together. It is probably the last Christmas break he will ever have again. So sad but true.

New Years is so overrated but we had fun. We went to dinner with some friends and then came home and watched T.V. I fell asleep 5 minutes before midnight and missed the count down. I was tired. Maybe next year we can get wild and crazy, probably not.

This year has been a really good one. As I look back at everything that has gone on I get a good feeling and I always hate saying goodbye to the past year although I look forward to the next and wonder what it will bring. This next year is going to be life changing for our family. Moving (most likely, we find out in a week where we will be), selling our house and buying a new one, new baby, quitting job and possibly finding a new one, graduation for Dave (I'm so proud of him! He has worked so hard and done so well), starting residency, and yeah... it seems a little overwhelming but it is going to be great. I'm so glad we have eachother to share the adventure with. I have such a good life and my number one goal this year is to try and remember how blessed I am to have so much. I get so stressed and anxious about the little things in life that I forget to look at the big picture. I want to be a good mom and wife, be healthier, get back into shape asap after the baby is born (I can't stand to see the extra weight pile on although it is for a good reason), try and not complain as much, and try to relax once in a while. It is such a hard thing for me to do with so much going on right now but I really need to work on this one. So many other things to work on and I know that I can do better. We all can and that is what is so great about a new year. Happy New Years to everyone... it's going to be the best one yet!!!

Christmas fun 08

2009-01-18T22:36:00.000-05:00

Luly eating candy at Clark Christmas party and playing "Don't eat Pete" with Aunt Sarah and kids... so happy! Quincy, Luly, Audree, and Kade playing on grandmas bed.

Annual Ludlow Christmas nativity... Lucy is really into it.

My sweet little angel sitting so quietly! I'm sure it lasted 2 minutes.

I love Christmas!

Gotta love Santa!

2009-01-12T06:19:00.000-05:00

Every year my parents always throw a fun Christmas party. We eat, open presents and of course Santa always makes his appearance and brings the kids a present. This is how much Lucy loved Santa this year. Okay... you can let go now! It's going to be alright.
C'mon just smile at the camera for one second!
Nevermind! Sorry Santa, maybe she will like you more next year.

Vegas/California Dec 08

2009-01-12T02:55:00.000-05:00

Dave had to take a clinical skills test in L.A. before he graduates in May and also wanted to do a 2nd look at the residency program there, so we decided to take a road trip and go together.

Monday: I got home from work around 7am and there was supposed to be a big snow storm later that day and all day Tuesday so we decided to leave a day early to miss the storm. I slept until about 10ish and then we packed really quick and were out the door just in time for the snow to start falling. I was nervous about driving in the snow but luckily we didn't have any big issues until around Cedar City. I was in the back with my eyes closed because I was so nervous! I am so glad Dave was driving. We made it to Vegas in safety and stayed at Binion's on Freemont street. Kinda white trash but it was 10 bucks for the night, Dave found a sweet deal on the internet that morning and so it was more of a reason to leave early. Ha JK. We love staying there. $3 dollar blackjack tables and virgin strawberry daquiris. Awesome! We took turns while the other took Lucy around to see all of the lights. She loved it!

Tuesday: We slept in, ate breakfast, and drove to L.A. We met up with Glade in the shade and ate dinner. He lives in the O.C. and we all know how much we love the O.C. We ate at a little pizza place and then walked down to the beach. It was dark and chilly but we didn't care. We walked along the beach for a while and then got some frozen yogurt on the way home. We went back to Glades to sleep. Dave stayed up to hang out and Lucy and I went to bed. Thanks for letting us stay with you! It is always fun to catch up.

Wednesday: We drove to downtown L.A. to explore and see the hospital that Dave could possibly be doing his residency at. It was the coldest day L.A. had seen in years, so they say. It rained all day and was freezing. We made our way to Josh and Jenny Coveys house in Santa Monica where we stayed for a couple of days. They were on their way to Utah for the holidays so it worked out perfect that they were gone and they were nice enough to let us stay at their house. I felt kind of like a mooch staying there because we could've easily of gotten a hotel but since Dave was going to be gone the next 2 days it was really nice that there were plenty of toys, movies, a little playground outside, and things for Lucy to do (they have 3 little girls) instead of being stuck in a little hotel room by ourselves. We went to dinner and just hung out together just the 3 1/2 of us. I swear people in California do not believe in heaters. I guess they don't normally need them because it is usually so hot but the place we went to eat was sooo freezing! They were all in beanies, uggs, and huge coats and we were... freezing.. inside the restaurant. It was nice to go home and get in my warm pj's and go to bed.

Thursday: We all got up early to take Dave to take his clinical skills test. He was going to be gone all day and I didn't want to be stuck without a car. I absolutely hate L.A. traffic. It was such a joke. I also have major anxiety about driving around in unfamiliar places and trying to follow confusing directions.. especially early in the morning. We dropped Dave off and then went back to bed. Later that morning I took Lucy to Venice Beach. The weather was sunny (Yay!) but chilly. It was Lucy's first time at the beach. We took off our shoes and put our feet in the water and she kind of freaked out. I'm not sure if it scared her or if it was just cold. We walked up and down the beach and I took her to this little playground that she loved. It was so cute because she kept chasing these random birds and would say "I got it, I got it!" even though she wasn't even close. She was running her hardest to catch them. She loved these little dogs too, she laughed and kept telling me to "Watch mom, watch!" Here are some pics of her I thought were cute.

I took her stroller just in case but ended up watching her push it up and down the beach. I should've known that was going to happen. She was the only kid in the whole place so people just loved watching her.
Her dream place... she was so happy to be outside playing.
I couldn't decide how she felt about the cold, wet sand.
First time at the beach.. maybe next time we get to the beach it will be warm so we can swim and build sand castles.
We picked Dave up from his test and went to dinner at Maria's Italian Kitchen. Best coconut shrimp and pineapple I've ever had. I love going out to dinner together. Then we went to bed. Great day!

Friday: Once again I didn't want to be stuck without a car so we woke up early and drove Dave to the hospital where he was planning on spending the day checking out the place for the 2nd time. I like L.A. but I don't know that I can handle the traffic. I hate it. You can't get anywhere fast, it takes forever to get to one place. If we lived there I probably wouldn't go anywhere but if we end up there it will be just fine, it just may take some time to get used to. Anyway, after we dropped Dave off we went home and went back to bed. Once we got up I packed everything up and we went to the mall to hang out. Dave wasn't sure when he would be done so we were kind of on call until he was ready. After a couple of hours at the mall I decided that we better get on our way or else we would be stuck in traffic and he would be waiting around forever. It worked out perfect because he called when we were 15 minutes away. We picked him up and were back on our way to Vegas for the rest of the weekend. We stopped to eat dinner at Buffalo Bills in the middle of no where. It was the only place open and was by far the worst buffet we have ever been too. It had been a long day and we were excited to get to Vegas to relax for the night. We stayed in Polo Towers for the rest of the weekend. I love going there. My parents have a time share there and were so nice to make reservations for us so that we could stay there. Ghandi, Travis, and Joel met us there to stay because they were all going to go to the Vegas Bowl the next day... Josh Covey came the next morning and they all went together.

Saturday: We slept in and then went to Cheesecake Factory for an early lunch before the game. I love that place! The guys all went to the game and me and Lucy just hung out together. Sarah and Candice drove from Arizona with Kade and baby Sadie so that we could all drive to Utah together. They were coming up for the holidays but Brady had to work so they came Saturday to Vegas and we drove home together Sunday. I loved holding Sadie. I can't wait to have a new baby of my own. I am so excited to constantly cuddle, love, kiss, and hold her, I'm not sure how Lucy will feel about that, but I will do the same for her. Kade and Lucy have so much fun together. I wish we lived closer so they could play more often. Anyway, after the game, Dave and I and some other friends that were down there for the game all went out to eat and play for the night. Sarah and Candice stayed with Lucy for us. It was late and Sarah didn't want to take her brand new baby out in the cold (which I don't blame her) so they stayed behind. I love you guys! Thanks for putting Luly to bed for us! We went to Circus Circus (the mexico of Vegas, I swear) who knows why we ended up there but it was fun to see friends and hang out with them for the night. Dave and some friends went to Planet Hollywood after but I decided that it was time to put my tired eyes to bed. We laughed really hard at our conversations that night, conversations I will never forget. I love Vegas!

Sunday: Happy Birthday EZO!!! I can't believe he is 29. Yes honey, you are 29 not 26! We packed up the cars and drove home. That night my mom had a Clark cousin party at her house. It was also a little get together for people to donate to my cousin, Stephanie, who is still recovering from severe burns from a plane crash back in August. My mom is such a sweetheart. She is always thinking of others and what she can do to help. I love you mom! All of the food was delish as well.

It was such a fun trip but I was so happy to be home sweet home.

Wow! That was a really long entry.

Oh Christmas tree!

2009-01-12T02:24:00.000-05:00

Well, we did have a cute Christmas tree but my sweet little 2 year old couldn't keep her sweet little hands off. I came home from work early one morning to find that all of the ornaments had been moved so that Lucy couldn't reach them. I have a feeling this won't be the last year that our tree looks a little lopsided and I am okay with it. I would much rather have a little buddy keeping me company than have a perfect Christmas tree. I also loved that every morning after we would wake up, Lucy would take me to the tree and say "lights" as she pointed to the tree. She loved it! Christmas is so much more fun with kids... and this is only the beginning for us. I love it!

Christmas card 08

2009-01-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

This was the picture we sent out for our Christmas card this year. Thanks to Holly for taking this picture for us. I love my little family!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! I can't believe a whole year has come and gone, but what a good one it has been.

Random journaling 08

2008-12-06T03:21:00.000-05:00

Just to warn you... this whole blog is basically my journal and this post may bore you because it is mostly for my memory...

I absolutely love having Dave home. He has one more interview in Texas this week and then is home for good. By the end of this whole process he will have interviewed with 9 programs. I think I have mentioned this in a previous post but for my own memory he will have interviewed in Rochester and Long Island (NY), Texas Tech and Texas A&M, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, L.A., and Utah, so we will see. We could be anywhere for the next 5 or 6 years, which is exciting but a little overwhelming. I know this waiting for match day (the end of January) is really stressful for Dave. He has another intense rotation the month of January at IMC in the shock trauma unit but then after that... things are smooth sailing for him and graduation is just around the corner. I'm so proud of him! He has worked so hard and has done so well. I'm so blessed to have such a good husband. I love him so much. Our latest plan is to find out where we are going and then put our house up for sale so that we can hopefully sale it before June so that we are not having to pay 2 mortgages once residency starts. It makes me sad to think that we will be moving out of our town home that we have been living in for the last 3 1/2 years. I love that place. It's the first place since we have been married that I call home. We have had some really good times there with many memories that I will never forget.

Anyway, this pic was taken at Temple Square. We took Lucy to see the lights last Sunday night and it was really fun to just go and be together as a family. You can't really see the lights in this pic but you sure can see right down Lucy's throat, well you can't really see down her throat because her tonsils are so freakin' huge. Poor girl! She snores louder that my mom and dad put together and gags on just about everything she eats. I took her to the Dr last summer to have them checked out and he said that they don't generally take tonsils out until she turns 3 or is atleast 30 lbs, which she will probably turn 3 before she weighs that much because she doesn't eat because of the darn things. It will be nice to have them out, someday. Kids swimming in the hot tub on Thanksgiving. She looks more and more like her dad everyday. She is a total Ludlow! I think she is pretty darn cute.
Lucy helped me decorate (and undecorate) the Christmas tree while Dave was out of town (he got home the night before Thanksgiving). I was anxious to get the decorations up for some reason this year... and I thought that it would be fun to suprise Dave when he got home from a long couple weeks away from home. When we wake up in the morning Lucy takes me to the tree and says "lights mom" and gets excited every time I turn them on. I love that she is talking more and understands when we talk. She still loves movies "mobie" (especially Mermaid, Grinch, and Snowman lately) and loves reading books more and more now. She mostly just liked to turn the pages but now she actually listens and knows what each book is about. Her latest thing is that when we say it's time for a nap or bedtime she stalls and wants to eat... Eat, mom, eat!, like she is all of a sudden hungry when she just ate lunch/dinner or had a snack. By the way she loves Nemo fruit snacks, cookies, cheese sticks, cereal, frozen pancakes, yogurt, (e-gert), popsicles (she calls them pickles), popcorn or pretty much anything you put in a little cup. I love when I try to kiss her or make her eat or whatever she says "Stop mom" or "Don't mom" and holds her hand out. She also ends up in our bed mostly every night (she still pulls the 4 o'clock freak out and won't stay in her bed or ends up just falling asleep with us) and in the morning she will look over my shoulder and say "Boo" or "wake up" as she kisses my cheek. It is so cute. Then she decides if she wants pancakes or cereal for breakfast... lately she has wanted to eat cheese for breakfast. Funny! She loves to have her tummy and back tickled and she will laugh and say "tickle" as she squirms every which way. I love it! She gets cuter everyday. When I tell her something she doesn't want to hear or ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do she closes her eyes and hopes that I will disappear and ignores me and then smiles when I bug her for ignoring her mom. She is really good at saying no too. She also loves to say "Dad/Mom watch!" The other day it was cute but not so cute at the same time, we had just gotten home from Sonic and I seriously had had one sip of my cherry coke with lots of crushed ice (my favorite) and some how she got a hold of it and was drinking it, then all of a sudden I hear her say "Mom, watch" and so I looked at her to see what she was up to and she started blowing bubbles in my brand new drink. She laughed and thought it was so funny and I didn't think it was funny but laughed anyway because it was so cute. Needless to say, I handed the drink over to her because I have a hard time with the whole backwash deal, yes I gave her coke... so what! She also sings to random music in the car "Live your Life, ay ay ay ay... or to cartoons like My friends Tiger and Pooh (one of my favorites!). She is such a sweetheart. I don't know what I would do without her. She makes me really happy (and really mad sometimes) but mostly happy. I have figured out this last few weeks that being a mom is all about trial and error, somethings work and some things don't and it is really hard to be strong sometimes. I really wanted to get rid of her bink all together but after a few sleepless nights and day naps I gave in and gave her bink to her but explained that it was only for when she was going to sleep. She has done really well without it during the day even though she has had some major freak outs when she wants it and I tell her no. They are frustrating and no fun for either of us and I feel like such a bad mom for confusing her with the whole "broken" thing... (hence the whole trial and error, I've definately learned a thing or two from this whole experience) if you keep reading through older posts you will know what I am talking about. I'm hoping that once she is completely over having her bink during the day we can work on going without if for naps then eventually night time but right now I can't afford to lose anymore sleep and neither can she. Maybe this approach will work better than the last, I hope!
I'm so excited for her to have a sister to play with. She is very busy and it is going to be a long winter. I think she gets a little bored just being at home with boring mom and dad so we try and make it important that we get her out to run around. During the day we walk to the clubhouse to exercise and then we make our daily coke run and do errands, then we usually do something together at night when Dave gets home. Dave has been so good to take her places at night when I am at work... he took her to Cabela's one night, to the mall Christmas shopping, Del Taco and McDonalds to play, we have also been to Chick-fil-A, Carl's Jr, and other places to let her play on the playground and eat dinner. We are in the process of finding a fun gymnastics class for her. I think she would love it as long as she could see us there with her. I love her so much! She makes my heart smile and I know she makes Dave's heart smile as well. She is such a huge blessing in my life! I love you Luce!

Thanksgiving 08

2008-12-06T02:40:00.000-05:00

I love Thanksgiving! I have so many things to be thankful for. My mom and Jen went to stay with Sarah in Arizona and help with baby Sadie so Sam, Holly and kids, Candice, Jess and Adam, Dave, Lucy, and I all went down to chill with my dad. My mom was such a sweetheart and had most of the stuff already prepared so we all helped put it all together and also brought something of our own so it was easy but so yummy as every year. We have a tradition that we all love... the horn of plenty. My mom does it every year. The kids love it especially and I, of course am like a little kid when it comes to candy. She buys cheetos, pretzels, bugles, starburst, m&m's, reeses pieces, and skittles then mixes them all up. So good except for when you get a skittle, m&m, and reeses pieces in your mouth at the same time, so gross! What a fun thing that I will certainly do every year for my family.
Holly and Wilbur. Love em!

Candice and Millie... so cute!
Sambo and my sweet little stinker, Lucy (not eating just playing with her food).

After we ate we watched movies and took naps then the kids all went swimming in the hot tub. Later in the evening Holly, Candice, and I went to the movies. We saw Four Christmasses, loved it! In fact, I went again with Dave a couple of nights later and loved it even more. It was a very fun day! I wonder where we will be spending Thanksgiving next year and who we will be spending it with. I'm so thankful that we will always have each other no matter where we are. I love you guys!