::the 4th part 2::

After the parade we went home, relaxed and watched some bike racing. Then in the late afternoon we headed outside to start cooking our delicious hot dogs. The temperature was so nice, and it was fun to spend time out back. Really it's amazing it wasn't pouring outside, the 4th was one of the first non rainy days we've had.
Kris picked up poop. Which, contrary to (Max's) popular belief, he does do. See, I have photographic proof. Just for the records.

We played a little ball.
Max is getting better at catching, though I don't have much photographic evidence of that, unfortunately.







And if anybody is wondering what I was doing, I was taking pictures. Just so you know.
There was some work being done. Some diet coke drinking being done also.

And some companionable relaxing, evidently.

Then there was some trampoline jumping.







(Max, momentarily contemplative. Why? Who knows.)

Then it was dinner time.
The Trader Joe's hot dogs are so dang good. They're the best hot dogs I've ever had. And add in some of their relish? Wow, that's a delish dog. And watermelon is a must on the 4th.

Sultan thought they would be good too. Please overlook the weird bread slicey eastern buns. They're weird.
Bad Max came to dinner.
He's usually not invited, but I made an exception since it's a holiday.

We were so glad to have Ken and Kathy with us for the holiday. It was so fun. We love having family around!

And the fact that he posed for this photo means he deserves to have it posted for all the world to see. So world? Enjoy.

::stuff & everything::

Max stepped in dog poop last night, in his bare feet. It was just shortly after he drew this in the backyard:

(translation: no dogs pooping) He was pretty mad about his stinky foot. Mostly he was mad at Kris because earlier in the day he had imperiously commanded Kris to clean up all the dog poop. Kris had just done it and didn't realize there was any more. It was one of those times where the kid is so mad, but you just have to laugh.
It's especially funny since he always likes to draw dog poop and make jokes about it. Such a boy.

I got to go and be an assistant photographer for a wedding on saturday night. Our next door neighbor from our old house is a portrait/wedding photog, and she asked me to come and help out. I had a great time, learned a lot, made a little money and hopefully was as helpful as she needed me to be. I took 12 GB worth of photos. Wow. But. I was out until almost 2 on saturday night and I am SO tired now. I can barely keep my eyes open. And I have a whole bunch of sore muscles. Evidently I'm not used to crouching in funny positions for eight hours at a time. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on my rest in the next few days. We'll see. It gets light awfully early around here these days!

We're really enjoying watching the Tour de France on TV. It's been going for about a week now. Part of the motivation for us to reobtain cable and a DVR here at our new place was the Tour. Kris loves watching it And let me tell you, the more you know about the sport and the riders the more interesting and exciting the race is. There are still a couple of weeks to go. It'll be interesting to see who wins. Everything's very interesting and controversial right now with Lance Armstrong back in the picture.

A few weeks ago I was called to teach a very difficult challenging class in primary (at church). I came to the realization that it really wasn't a one person job and asked very nicely if I could have Kris called in as my team teacher. They actually did it and yesterday we we taught together for the first time. It went so great. I'm really happy with how it's working out so far. Hopefully all continues to go well with that!

We finally found a sub sandwich place we like out here. This has improved our lives greatly. What can I say? We love subs, and the kind of sandwiches usually found out here just don't cut it. They're on hard bread with really greasy meats. Or there's subway. And I'm so sick of subway now I can't even eat it anymore. But we found this other place not too far from our house and it's great. No Planet Sub, but we're satisfied for now.
I like RI more now just because of the subs.

Max announced to me today that for his next birthday (many months away) he wants a cake featuring a German Shepherd, giraffes and "fish under the sea." Any volunteers for the creation of that one?

We have a lot of traveling planned for the next few weeks. It's too bad, we'll be leaving here just as it's getting warm enough to enjoy the beach. But oh well. We're looking forward to our trips. We're going to see the Hill Cumorah pagent with our old ward soon, then we'll be visiting family in UT and doing some other western traveling for a while. I'm really looking forward to it.

That's us, for now at least!

::parade attire::

When we were at the parade on the fourth we noticed lots of patriotic attire. So much so in fact, that I started feeling the need for a photo study. If I only had a zoom lens I would've been able to get a lot more, but as it is, I got a lot of interesting material. It's the people that feel like they need to wear flags as pants that I think are a little nutty.





Is it really respectful to be sitting on the flag? I'm just not sure.

Then we have the girl who thinks she's super hot--so much so that her little flag "top" shows so much of her top that I didn't want to put her front on my blog. I'm surprised somebody who thinks they're so cool dresses like a flag at all.


And then the old men in their many and varied flaggy americana shirts.





That last one can make you a little nauseous if you look at it for too long.

Then you have the people that go for a little of everything. Flag shirts, flags, flag hats, stars and stripes everywhere. At least most of them are kids. Well, some of them.


And last, we have the matching couple in their red white and blue tie die. They get points for at least being original. They lose points for not wearing more shorts though.


Next time I think I'm going to have to do a study on New Englanders that think it's patriotic to wear a Red Sox shirt on the fourth of July. That's a whole nother story.

::the 4th part 1::

I'm a little behind, but that's ok, right?

The fourth of july was one of the first days all summer that's been truly sunny and quite hot actually. We got up and headed over to the other side of the bay for the Bristol parade. Supposedly this parade has been happening since 1785 (wow). So it's quite the institution. We went last year and had a really good time, so we didn't want to miss out this year.
We had to drive separately since Kris was on call (boo). But luckily since Kris's parents were here we all had people to keep us company.

Max is lucky to have a strong dad who can still carry him up on shoulders. It won't work for too much longer I'm afraid!
We got there after things had already started. We walked up the sidewalk as far as we could, then at some point it was just so crowded we had to just stop and stand and watch from the sidewalk. Which was great as far as the view went, but terrible as far as shade. We were in full sun. Luckily there were some whispy clouds in the sky, but not enough to make us comfortable.

Anyway.
One of the first things we saw were guys dressed up like old time baseball players. This guy was throwing a ball to people in the crowd. They looked really fun.


We saw pretty horses that I know my mom will appreciate.

These guys are gorgeous:



Every time a horse came along Max would yell, "UH OH!!" and tell me that I needed to hold my breath so I wouldn't sneeze.

Max found a little friend to talk to for a bit.



I always like to see the marching bands--especially the sharp looking groups with lots of members. They come from all over for this parade. I especially liked the uniforms on the following bands:



I'm glad it wasn't me wearing those unis marching in the sun though. Torture.

The Navy guys looked sharp. There are a lot of military in the parade since there are a lot of bases and stuff nearby. It's fun to see them marching in uniform.

We always like the Shriners in their little cars.

And Max liked seeing a scotty dog--what's a parade without at least one dog?

And the reinactors are fun to see--lots of drum and fife groups and soldiers and maidens/wenches.
I like the drums.


What we don't like? The guns and the cannons. They are SO SO loud, and so startling. So at some point Max just kept his hands over his ears constantly.

I don't blame him. I had my ears covered most of the time too. I'm just glad he's big enough to cover his own so that I can keep my hearing.

POW!!

We left before it was all over--crazy that we could stay for two hours and get there after it started and leave before it was done. It's a long long parade. We didn't have a lot of traffic getting home which was nice.
To sum it up, we had a good morning.

More to hopefully follow soon!

::kris's 30th::

Since we were up in Maine getting rained on during Kris's official birthday, we couldn't do any of our traditional celebrating. And since Kris's parents were coming at the end of the week, I was mean and made him wait for his cake and presents until they arrived.
They got here on thursday afternoon and we waited patiently for Kris to get home from work so we could start having fun.
We went to have dinner at a Hibachi grill that we've had our eye on for a while. We were so excited to get to go!

It's so fun having family in town. Max loves it.

Our chef was very dramatic and fun and we liked him even though he kept missing when he tried to throw things up into the top of his hat.
I think Max wasn't too sure about the fire at first, but after a while he got into it and kept giving the chef the thumbs up.

He told Kris later in the bathroom that he had figured it out. The chef was a robot. That's how he could put his hand in the fire and not get hurt. And really, it may have been true.

I got shrimp and yes it was delicious!

After dinner we headed home for cake and presents.
I made a delicious coconut layer cake with coconut filling and chocolate frosting. And yum it was good. Even though it was a little lopsided, and I was afraid that the filling was going to squeeze out all over because it was such a warm day it was so yummy! It's totally worth the extra time it takes to make it from scratch. I highly recommend the recipe.

Mmmm, that makes me want some now. Good thing there's still a little left over.

We had fun eating and hanging out and Kris got to play with his presents.

How fun to have visitors for a birthday party! And how crazy that he turned 30. Yikes!

::happy 4th::

We're having fun, hope you are too!

::crazy rain::

If anybody runs into Noah in his ark, send him our way. We're getting drenched right now! And we're getting close to 40 straight days of rain, so I have reason to be making escape plans!



Kris's parents are coming to see us today and we're going to officially celebrate Kris's birthday tonight--on his real b-day we were being soaked in Maine while he couldn't get a fire started in the 100% humidity! Not cool. And plus we didn't have a coconut chocolate layer cake to eat out there. So today should be fun.

Hopefully the fourth will be sunny. It looks like it could be, so far so good!

8 years!

That's right! Today's our wedding anniversary. And to celebrate: we're home. Max is complaining about going to bed without a story (punishment for not getting ready for bed when asked), Sultan in laying at the screen door wishing he could come in, Ginna's burning photo CDs for friends and I'm blogging.

Sounds a little lame, but I had the day off work since we were supposed to be camping--more on that in a latter post--and, honestly, we had a really nice day. Max woke us up already dressed and we spent the day cleaning up, playing outside and being happy. I had forgotten how fun it is to jump on the trampoline in the sprinklers.

I thought, I'd take a minute while we wait for Max to fall asleep and post some musings on an amazing 8 years.

Year 0

We married June 30, 2001. It was hot that day. We were both still in college--which shocks many of our new east coast friends. Ginna was working at a camera store and I was doing insulation. We lived in an upstairs apartment in Provo.

Year 1

We celebrated our first year in Vienna as part of a study abroad. We took this picture is in the Czech Republic. It was the best summer. Whenever things are really stressful and unpleasant I find myself thinking about Vienna and the times we had there.

Ginna had basically finished college and was working at the music store (see what a music degree gets you!! vindicating every music major's parents' fears). I was still in college, but knew I would try for dental school. We lived in my parent's condo in Orem, which we loved.

Year 2

Here we are in Yellowstone. We spent a few days camping that summer while Ginna was pregnant, realizing that camping would be very different once Max was born. I had just finished taking the dental admission test and was confident I'd get into school. We took the trip to relax and celebrate. We also got to visit Kari and Aaron, who were living in Idaho. I still remember how scared Ginna got during a thunderstorm while we were in the tent. I had neglected to seal the rainfly seams and we were getting dripped on. We tried to distract ourselves by watching Ghostbusters on the clam, but the battery died during the opening credits. That was our last summer in Utah.

Year 3

This year we had our chubby little man with us. For our anniversary, my mom came out to stay with us and we got to go out for the entire night. It was our first night away from Max and Ginna was pretty nervous, but we had a good time. We were in Kansas City and we had bought a house. I was starting dental school in the fall and at the last minute Ginna crushed the gmat and started her MBA. Yikes. That summer I didn't work at all; I just stayed home and helped out with Max while Ginna worked. It was an awesome summer. We spent all our time together and we're very happy.

Year 4

This is a picture of us in Snow Canyon. We were visiting my parents at their condo in St. George (you'll regret selling it come winter, dad). I had the summer off and we were recuperating from a very hard year. I had a job in a forensic lab doing chemistry and Ginna was swamped with work herself. We were super busy, but this was the year we discovered Planet Sub. We started going for the kids eat free Tuesday night special and then hardly missed a week for the next 3 years. Grinding through school and taking care of Max was a huge team effort. I'd rush from class to meet Ginna on campus just in time to exchange a kiss and Max so she could go to class, then I'd take him home and get him in bed so I could study. During this time we learned that we could do anything together--cheesy, but true.

Year 5

Still in Kansas City, still in school. We set the camera on Ginna's work desk to get this picture. That's right, the desk was in the living room. This was another one of those grind-it-out years. Somehow during that year we decided that I would try to go on for more training after dental school. Ginna is so supportive of me and our family. And look at how cute max looks in this picture. What a cute toddler.

Year 6
Here we are in a rotating restaurant in Kansas City. I can't remember what it was called, but it sits on top of the Hyatt hotel that I stayed in when I first came to Kansas City for my dental school interview. We got to watch the sun set and a fire works show during dinner. This was soon after we had sold our house and started renting a new place in the city. We loved the new place and aside from the great collar bone break of 2007 this was a fun year for us. We applied for residency and I spend a lot of time traveling, externing and interviewing, not to mention the mission trip to Nicaragua. Ginna worked like crazy too keep me on track and to finance the whole endeavor, what a sweetheart. But most importantly, I finally earned the title of "best husband ever".

Year 7

This is a picture of us taken in Newport, Rhode Island. We finally finished graduate school. Ginna and I were totally wiped by the end of it all. Ginna graduated on a Friday, me on a Saturday and Sunday morning we left Kansas City for Rhode Island. It was the craziest time of our lives. I can't image ever having that much to do again. Just reminiscing as I type is making me grind my teeth. Anything--even residency--was going to be a move toward less stress.

Unfortunately, I had to be in Brooklyn, NY during on our actual anniversary, but we made up for it.

Year 8

We've come a long way since that picture of us on the steps of the Temple. It's been crazy and good. This is sure to be another exciting year for us as I finish residency and we figure out where we're headed next. Who knows? These past years have been hard work, but we've been a great team...I know I'll save my sappyness for after Max goes to bed--he's still awake!

::weekend::

We were busy going to graduation (congrats guys!) and camping in the rain to celebrate Kris's b-day. I'll have more to report later!