Picture Highlights

I won't give my excuses, instead I'll just fill you in on the past 10 months (has is really been that long?!)

November

We took a weekend trip from Lynchburg to see more of the country in western Virginia before really heading out West. We went to church in Buena Vista (home of Southern Virginia University) and happened upon this strange tourist attraction called "Foamhenge."
It is a recreation of the famous Stonehenge in England only it is made out of huge foam blocks, carved and painted to look real.We thought it was a little hokey, but decided to take advantage of the opportunity in case we never get to Salisbury to take pictures of the real thing :)

October

Being a botanist, I couldn't resist creating some Halloween zinnias this year. I was pleased with how well they turned out :)


As you can see, the only reason the pictures turned out was with some heavy lollipop bribery!


October was an incredibly busy month. After our trip down to Raleigh we switched into high gear and packed up our apartment. We moved all of our stuff with the help of friends from church (who were absolute lifesavers!) and moved our family west to Lynchburg for a few weeks. Randall rotated with a country doctor in a little town called Big Island. He didn't mind the 30 minute commute each way because the Appalachian Mountains were glorious in the height of fall color. And the personalities of the locals were just as colorful as the countryside!




Randall signed up for a sprint triathlon to help motivate him to exercise. It really worked and he performed well the day of the race. The triathlon was just outside of Raleigh, so we stayed with Chase and Laura in their beautiful new home. It was a lot of fun to see them and enjoy most of general conference together. The girls loved hanging out with cousins just their size.

September

Okay, so my kids love playing in the water. The biggest treat is when we get a heavy summer rainstorm and we run up and down the street in front of our apartment splashing puddles. We're kind of the freaks of the neighborhood that way!

Again, here we are playing in the water. I'm sure our landlord will be glad when we're gone because there will be a significant ease up on the water bill. Sometimes the girls will take three baths a day, not because they are dirty, but because it is just so much fun. Three of the girls in the tub are mine and the fourth is Lauren Peterson, a friend we were babysitting.
As you might have guessed, Randall is the one who introduced the idea of playing with latex gloves in the bathtub. It has been a big hit ever since.

August

James and Natalie's wedding was the event of the summer. We felt fortunate that Randall was able to rearrange his rotations at the last minute so we could come back to Utah. We love every moment we get to spend with our families. James found an amazing girl and it is wonderful to see him so happy. Mun spoiled Eva, Noel and Sophia with cute matching dresses they got to wear to the wedding.


We took advantage of our time in Utah to get some great out-in-nature time. Randall convinced Spencer to help him take Eva and Noel on a fun hike in the Uintas. We weren't prepared with warm clothes, so Chrissy lent the girls some things to wear.


We visited the fair in Spanish Fork to listen to Angela perform with her band, Marigold. They were amazing!

Randall convinced Angie, Spencer and his dad to join him on an overnight adventure in the mountains. He just can't get enough of it. How can you blame him when you have vistas like this? It also helps to have great company.

We were privileged to escort Karie and Chris Urick to the Raleigh Temple. This is another amazing couple and we loved being there when they became a forever family--married for time and all eternity. I didn't know Chris very well before this trip (Karie and I worked together through our callings in the Relief Society) and it was fun to discover his enthusiasm for the gospel and witness his deep love for his wife. He's definitely a keeper, Karie!

July

The Hafer family graciously invited us to join them for a fun 4th of July camping/fishing trip on the Chickahominy River (near Williamsburg).

Check out this campsite on the beach. Pretty cool, huh? It was only accessible by boat, so we took several trips across the water getting all of our supplies over.

There were some rough turns of events (rain and a broken outboard motor), but we still managed to have fun. Fred and Casey were gracious hosts and bent over backwards to take care of us.

The creature from the swamp...no wait, that's Sarah! As you can imagine, the only inspiration for such a gross costume was a dare from Randall.

June

More strawberry picking...only this time with friends (Seth, Eva and Grant). Eva called her friend Seth a few weeks ago when it was her birthday. After a lengthy conversation, Eva handed the phone back to me. She said Seth had to go because "his ear hurt." I laughed for a long time about that one. I think Randall can sympathize with Seth surrounded by a house full of girls. Sometimes when you get a girl talking...

May

I love strawberry season! As you can tell the girls aren't worried about eating a little dirt with those berries when they've just been picked.

My friend Michelle made adorable matching green skirts for the girls. I took these pictures with Daddy after church. We were in Raleigh for a family medicine conference over the weekend.

When Randall was on his surgery rotation he brought home extra surgical hats, gloves and scrubs for the girls to dress up in. Randall always seems to know how to liven things up and make things more interesting for everyone. It's probably because he is still a kid at heart.

April

Are you sick of pictures from the botanical garden? Since we live in an apartment, we treat the garden like it's our backyard and try to go as often as we can. I think I take more pictures when I'm really happy, and I'm really happy when we are outside running around, enjoying nature, and I don't have to tell the kids "no" or "don't touch that."


We took off the weekend following Randall's shelf exam to explore one of the most beautiful cities in Virginia: Charlottesville. We visited Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's estate) and took turns entertaining the kids so we could each enjoy the guided tour. We also happened upon a local fair and let the girls ride on the carousel and experience cotton candy for the first time. We stopped for lunch at a pretty park after church and let the kids get their wiggles out before our long drive back to Norfolk. This turned out to be one of our best short family vacations yet--fun for all!