Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to Randy!  Randy demanded this picture would not be posted on social media but I'm pretty sure our family blog is not considered social media so here it is.
Being a father to all boys means Randy is busy. He's got a lifetime of Pinewood Derby cars to build, endless camp outs and scout activities, and loads of father/son activities.  Poor guy.  It's no wonder he wanted Baby No.5 to be a girl.  He needed a break!
We were more than happy to celebrate this guy in our lives though.  He works so hard as a provider and is really, really good at pretty much everything he does.  The boys love when he plays with them and especially love accommodating their dad's craving for candy and ice cream.  Even Parker has figured out that if he wants an ice cream cone all he has to do is ask his dad and they're happily on their way to McDonald's for a soft-serve in record time.
 This is also a good time to make an official announcement so big drum roll please..................
Randy is opening up his own endodontic practice!  This is a HUGE deal and has been in the works before we found out about Baby No.5 {or there would be no Baby No. 5}.  Doors are scheduled to open September 1st, which is right around the corner.  The loan was approved last Wednesday so Randy said I can make the news official and the demolition of the old office space has already begun.  We've hit the ground running {but really it feels like we are racing along on a high speed train without a driver}.

This is a really bad shot of his building which I took from my car.  The second story window is where the waiting room will be.

His office is about two miles away and takes 2-5 minutes to get there depending on how you hit the lights.  On days when we wish we'd never gotten ourselves into this mess, just thinking of his next-to-nothing commute brings smiles to our faces.  His office is on the 2nd floor of a building with a bank on the main floor and three other dental offices (orthodontist, dentist, and pediatric dentist) on the second and third floors.  It makes for a pretty sweet set up, we hope.  Every day there seems to be a never ending list of things that we need to do, decisions that need to be made, and more money that needs to be spent.  It's so overwhelming!  But Randy is all in and is making huge progress each day as he chips away at that never ending list.  I am totally confident in his abilities to make this practice thrive and I know our boys have no clue what a risk this is for their dad because in their eyes, he can do anything.  And they're right!

So we are taking things one day at a time, trying to stay positive even when overwhelmed, and looking forward to the biggest adventure we could ever imagine.

Ethan is the Man!

This boy has been busy being awesome lately.  With the help of his dad, Ethan put together a pretty awesome science fair project.  So awesome in fact, he was awarded 1st place and came home with a sweet trophy. 
Ethan decided to do his experiment about paper airplanes.  He built six different types of planes and came up with a hypothesis about which one would fly the farthest and why. Randy and Ethan camped out in the den for two days typing everything up and recording data.  They even drove over to the church, in a blizzard {so they had several detours due to cars blocking the roads}, where they performed the actual testing of the airplanes.  Although Ethan didn't actually pull an all nighter, he definitely stayed up way past his bedtime to get this done so he got a good glimpse of what high school and college life will be like.  Ethan was so thankful for all the time Randy spent with him that he treated his dad to ice cream to say thanks.  I thought that was pretty sweet, even if it was my idea.  And I thank my lucky stars to be married to a smart man who also happens to be a night owl.  Major fist pump over here that he will be the one to see the boys through these projects while I go to bed at 10pm. 

Here he is testing his hypothesis.  Which he ended up rejecting.  Doesn't that sound so technical?

 Ethan spent the morning explaining his project to interested kids, and trust me, they were interested!  There was always a crowd around his table because paper airplanes are way more interesting than eggs and battery experiments that are all over Pinterest. 

 Ethan also just competed in his last Pinewood Derby.  This meant more late nights spent out in the garage, working side by side with Randy to build a fast car.  {Randy isn't in it to win it, he's just scarred for life after Marcus's Pinewood Derby that ended in tears when Marcus was the only boy who didn't qualify to move on to the district race.  We laugh about it now, but Randy hated feeling like he failed his son so he works hard to ensure the car doesn't come in last.}  Also, Randy has only been able to attend one of the last six Pinewood Derbies.  Somehow something legitimate always comes up at the last second like an emergency root canal or this year it was Landon's soccer game.  Randy is always so relieved he doesn't have to be there to see how things go down so I'm constantly texting him with updates so he can determine just how happy or upset his son will be.  This year was a good race.  Ethan's car started out slow but got faster with each race and he ended up taking 2nd place.  Turns out there were several dads {one who is a rocket scientist} that brought their A game so it was fun to see how it played out. 

2nd place and another trophy to add to his collection.  Poor Randy, he's not even halfway through his Pinewood derby car building experience.  He's got 8 more cars to go!  It's no wonder he wanted a baby girl so badly.

Another Birthday

My birthday was on Sunday and it was the busiest birthday I can remember having.  Randy and I spoke in church and I held choir practice at our home afterwards which added to the busy day.  We also had friends over for dinner because Randy bought two cheesecakes so of course we needed to share them. {We still have some left over so I eat a slice for breakfast and a slice after dinner.  I told you I was addicted!}
We collapsed into bed that night and I thanked Randy for all he did to make the day special {getting the boys ready for church, ironing their clothes, feeding them breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, etc}.  Randy responded that it wasn't a big deal.  It was all stuff I usually do anyway.
I thought about what he said for a second and my jaw just about dropped through the floor.  He was right!  I do all that stuff on a regular basis every day.  And I make it look easy.  Well, sometimes.  Anyway, besides delicious mango-key lime cheesecake, and white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake, the best gift I received was a break from all the things I have to do on a daily basis and the realization that my husband appreciates me for doing all those things.  So happy birthday to me.  I'm 37 years old and yes, some lady at church asked me if I still had kids living at home so apparently I look more like I'm 57 years old.  I love my life.

Marcus my mini Me

Washington D.C. Part 1

Holy smokes!  What a trip!  Ever since Easter we've been going non-stop and now we're back from D.C. and getting ready for visits from both sets of grandparents for Ethan's baptism next week.  But before I get consumed with all that I have to share some highlights of our trip.
First of all, it was fantastic!  We haven't been back to D.C. since we lived there seven years ago.  We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle who entertained my boys in ways I never thought possible.  Between teaching my boys to shoot, driving in their convertibles, and taking motorcycle rides on the Harley, my boys had little interest in the sites at D.C.

Marcus thinks he's so cool

Bean shot the target on his first try

Randy's time was spent at a dental convention where he received his pin/recognition for getting board certified.  This was a BIG deal but since he completed all the requirements a year ago I've already blocked the stressfulness of all it entailed.  Let's just say you should be very, very impressed.  Only a small percentage of endodontists become certified because it is that hard.

getting "pinned" {we staged this after the big fancy ceremony where only the pro photographer was allowed to photograph

The icing on the cake however, was reuniting with my best friend/BYU roommate, Cheryl.  She also has four boys so getting together was a whole new level of crazy fun and we were quite the spectacle.  I laughed until I cried as we drove around D.C. in our minivans packed with boys.  It's amazing how much things have changed since our graduation in 2001.  We reconnected while the boys unleashed their energy at an indoor bounce house while it poured rain all day, talked non-stop while the boys played in "Lego Land", visited the Air and Space Museum, took a trip to the National Zoo, and squeezed in a last-minute BBQ before we had to leave.  "T", my other  BYU roommate was crazy enough to join up with us when work allowed so we had some good times.

We took our zoo to the National Zoo

"Lego Land" - a whole room only for Lego building.

doing boy things

more boy things

Udvar Hazy National Air and Space Museum