Introducing....

.....Mr. and Mrs. Jace Swigert. 

After Jace and Grace had been playing in their room for awhile last evening, Jace came rolling Gracie into the living room to declare to Ryan and myself that they had gotten married. 

The honeymoon was wonderful. He gave her rides in the laundry basket

 

and she did the same.

They joked and laughed with each other and

 

 gazed into each others eyes.

But the honeymoon ended when Grace reached over

and pulled out her husband's hair.

And Christopher Robin thought, "What have I done?????"

But as you can see... They lived happily ever after!

The Dr. turns 33

Sunday evening, Ryan's siblings called him to wish him a Happy Birthday.

The Dr. turned 33 yesterday!  We did most of our celebrating on Saturday.  He was hoping to find a pair of jeans that were not from the Goodwill. His first in 5 years! We went to every store in our mall that sells jeans and finally had some luck at Dillards. 

After our mall outing we spent the evening at home with the Ericksons.  We ate pizza and watched a movie.  It was a wonderful weekend!

An Outing

Dear Grammy, Poppy, and Freddy,

This morning my mom woke me up and told me she had a surprise for me. She said to hurry and get dressed so that we could go on a special outing! I was dressed and ready in no time.  When we arrived at our destination, I was THRILLED. Mommy handed me our camera and told me to take pictures of what we were doing to show you.  So Grammy, and Poppy, and Freddy, I took these pictures for you. Can you guess where we are and what we are doing?

So what do you think? Do you have any guesses?  Well, in case you weren't sure, I was at the airport!  Infact, we were buying tickets so that me, and Mommy, Daddy and Gracie could fly to come see you!!

So the plan is:

On Easter Sunday, April 8, Mommy, me and Gracie are flying into Las Vegas.  We have to leave Daddy in Iowa for a few days.  He has this really important test to take called the OMSITE exam.  All those big letters stand for something really important and he has to do really well.  So he suggested to Mommy that we go to Utah a little earlier than him, so that he could spend the entire week after work studing really hard. 

Then on Saturday evening, April 14, after the test is over, he is going to fly to Las Vegas too.  But don't worry, Mommy has arranged for the St George Shuttle to drive him to St George that night, so he will not be driving with his eyes mostly asleep. On Monday morning, April 16, we will be renting a car and heading North to SLC to spend the week with you.  We need to head back to Iowa on Saturday, April 21, so Daddy can work on Sunday, April 22.  But we haven't worked out that part of the trip yet.  The tickets home are just so darn expensive that we might have to stay in Utah indefinately.  Would that be OK with you?

Well, after we were all done at the ticket counter buying all the tickets, I was so excited because I thought that we were going on the plane TODAY to see you.  I didn't realize that we have to wait another 70 days for the vacation to start, so I cried most of the way home.  I thought we got our tickets and then got on the plane, but I was wrong. So now I am just trying to patiently count down the days until April when I get to be near you and play with you and have you squash me XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX.

Love,

Your Christopher Robin



PS.  If you see any of my cousins or Aunts and Uncles, will you let them know our plans?  I am hoping that this letter reaches them to, so they know our schedlule, and I hope these dates work out well for them.  They don't give us much flexibility here in Iowa.

And PSS.  When you talk to my Aunt Jenny in Virginia, will you tell her that it really stinks that she doesn't live in Utah, so that I can see her too when I am there.

So Grammy, and Poppy, and freddy, that is it. That is my story about our exciting and tearful outing we had today.  I love you!



Breakfast for baby

This is the story of how baby gets breakfast.

First, Mommy fights severe elements to fetch food

in her little gray bucket.

Next, she thoroughly inspects it

and luckily it is good enough to eat!

Then she makes sure

her hungry baby gets some too.

And baby is happy!

Because breakfast was oh so good!!

Monday

When I woke up this morning and looked outside to see this lovely weather, I immediately thought, "It's Monday, It's Monday, It's Monday!!!"  

A bleak, January day here in Iowa doesn't seem to bother Christopher Robin one bit.  He could spend months in the same location and never come out for air as long as his fleet of cars and trucks was there.

He happily drove his trucks all day, racing them some but

mostly CRASHING them and causing a "BIG traffic jam".  But don't worry, the drivers usually get out safely.  They "only bleed a little bit" at our house.

We were expecting guests for Family Home Evening so we put Gracie in charge of helping her Dad make the dessert. 

At 7:30 the Elders arrived. 

Elder England, who is going home this week, gave the lesson.

Gracie is becoming a scriptorian too!

Then the lesson was followed by a rambunctious game of duck, duck goose.

Everything is just more fun and funny when the Dr. is around. 

Off he goes! Curls bouncing.

After the lesson, we took a group picture.

This is take 1:  Elder Jewett's head is cut off, Jace is crying and Gracie is not looking at the camera.

Take 2:  my underwear is showing and Jace looks thrilled about life in general.   But Gracie is looking at the camera!

After Ryan got back from taking the Elders home, the traffic jam had to be cleaned up for obvious reasons.

Clean-up at our house can go either way, either with tears or no tears.  Tonight....tears...

....and no tears.

So here's to another January Monday, gone by in a flash.

Tears



Jace, moments after Cam and Kenzi drove away.



Sunday morning, 8 days after they arrived, a tearful  Christopher Robin had to say goodbye to Cameron and Makenzi.

Our week with them was so much fun. They completely spoiled us.  On Thursday, they cooked us all dinner then sent  Ryan and I out the door to a ballroom dance class while they tended our kids!  While we were gone, Cameron pulled out his computer and showed Jace cool movies of cars and trains and trucks CRASHING. A Christopher Robin delight.  We got to see them when we got home!

Aunt Makenzi gave Robin and Rue much needed hair cuts.

Uncle Cam raced cars with the Robin across the kitchen floor on numerous occasions.

They gave Jace these cool little parachutes.

He launched them off the upstairs banister for a good hour or so and Aunt Makenzi was kind enough to untangle them for him a gazillion times!!

They spoiled Gracie with this cute critter punch ball.  The tail was the punching string and she proudly put her finger in the little hole as you can see~

then she punched the lights out of it!!

And then the big interview day came.  Cameron is currently a 4th year medical student at the University of Utah. He is pursuing a career as a surgeon. One of the programs he applied to is ours here at U of I.  His residency will be 5 years long- but mostly 5 long years! Ryan is currently spending 4 months on general surgery and it is hard!! Only the top students specialize in surgery --that would be Cameron!

Cameron just home from the 6 hour interview.

When the interview was over we partied! It was his last of 12 interviews across the country.  Having gone through that stressful, and might I add, expensive process with Ryan 2 years ago, all I can say is CELEBRATION!!  Chinese food was ordered and  movies were rented!

Then on Sunday morning, Christopher Robin had to say goodbye.  He was crushed after they left. But we promised him that he would be seeing them again soon!  And there is a really good chance they will be living close to us next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!