The Christmas Tree

By the first of November I was begging Caleb to let us go get our Christmas tree. Despite my constant requests we finally got it the Friday after Thanksgiving. I was soooooo excited. It is always my favorite part of every year to get a tree and decorate the house for Christmas. Since we have been married we have gotten the best deal on trees at Home Depot, so with our tight budget we went there again and got a great tree. The trees had all been shipped in that morning and were still bundled so in normal Kathryn reasoning I looked for the tallest one, which is 9 feet at Home Depot, with a nice point. The lady unwrapped and fluffed it and it was perfect I didn't even have to unwrap any other ones. So we tied it on the car and drove home.

After getting the tree on the stand and in our family room we found out that an almost nine foot tree doesn't fit so well when you have 8 1/2 foot ceilings. As my dad will testify I always pick out trees way to big for the house. Caleb had to cut some off the top and clean the scratch off our ceiling :) Once we got the tree upright it looked great, but it kept getting wider and wider as the branches relaxed, so it is a huge tree. I love big trees though so I was very excited. I put the lights on and Caleb and I put all the decorations on.

Joshua kept busy on his play mat, and loved watching the twinkle lights move around as I put them on the tree.



After we finished decorating Caleb was so excited that he started wrapping all our presents and putting them under the tree. Joshua loves all the lights and bright colors.



We also put Christmas lights and garland all over the front of our house and up the stairs, but our camera is broken (as you can see by our blurry pictures) and getting repaired so we will post some later. Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with just the three of us. We missed being able to be with the whole family at Holly and Billy's house this year for the traditional Thanksgiving feast, but we did make our own big dinner. Caleb made a really good Turkey, actually Caleb made the majority of the dinner, and did a really good job. I tried to make things, but kept getting interrupted with diaper changes and feedings, which is why we ended up with dry crusty rolls :0). We ended up cooking together all morning and listening to Christmas music, and ate dinner around two. After dinner we went to the bishops house with all the other med student families for dessert. It was really fun to visit with everyone it made us not feel so far away from family.

My Two Teeth

Joshua got his first tooth on October 30th, and his second on the November 12th. He has been a little happier now that his teeth are through.

The Excellent Hair-do

So Joshua has this great hair-do. He has about the same amount of hair everywhere on his head, except the back half just sticks straight up in the air no matter what we do to it. We love to try to style it, but it is pretty stubborn and coarse, like my hair.

A walk in the Woods

So Saturday we decided to go on a nice family hike. I had seen a trail once near Smugglers Notch that looked pretty, so we drove up there in search of it. We parked and started wandering down this trail, and it starts getting steeper and really rocky. We'll just say it wasn't the easiest with the front carrier. It was so beautiful. We got up a ways and ended up at this waterfall.

It was really cold so Joshua was nice and toasty with three layers on while Caleb and I froze.

The leaves are all off the trees now and were covering the forest floor.

I love being with my daddy.

The funny story of the day was an experience with some apple cider. In Vermont fresh apple cider is sold everywhere, including Costco. Caleb loves it so we get it all the time, before the hike he went to take a sip of a brand new bottle, but it was all big and bloated. We decided to take it with to return it on the way home. The problem is as we climbed the mountain the pressure in the bottle rose, and sprung a leak. So it sprayed all over the car, and caused our whole car to stink of beer, from the fermented apple juice. So now our car smells like a bar! Hopefully we don't get pulled over by the police any time soon.

Haloween

Halloween started out with the church trunk or treat party. They had dinner and had set up some of the rooms in the church with candy so the kids could trick or treat. Joshua was a cute little pumpkin so Caleb and I went as pumpkin farmers carrying our harvest. We decided to go home before the trick or treating, since Joshua was more interested in my apple and getting home to bed.





The night before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. I think pumpkin carving is one of Caleb's hidden talents, every year he gets so excited and into his carving.



This year we used some Martha Stewart tricks and made our own templates. Joshua helped me carve mine, so it took a while. Although we still finished before daddy.




Joshua loved the drill, he really wanted to see what it tasted like. Then I turned the drill on and started drilling holes in the pumpkin, he didn't like that part as much. We had to let daddy do the drilling why we stayed in the other room.




To celebrate Halloween I decided to make a fun dinner in pumpkins, since we weren't going trick or treating. Joshua just wanted to eat the napkins, and play with the pumpkins. The dinner turned out okay, and it was fun to eat out of pumpkins.




We lit our pumpkins up and dressed Joshua up for the trick or treaters. He didn't last very long, he kept giving us funny looks like saying "why am I in this big orange thing". So I dressed up in a big clown costume to answer the door. Joshua thought it was funny for about ten minutes and then got very worried about what mommy was wearing. We got a handful of kids, but Caleb was left with way more tootsie rolls and junior mints than he wanted.





Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Joshua Laughing

One of Joshua's favorite games is when one of us tries to "get him" it always makes him laugh really hard. Caleb was holding the camera and teasing him, so try not to get to motion sick watching this. You have to hear his laugh though, it is so funny.

Fall in Vermont

This fall has been wonderful. The leaves are changing, but the weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny. The fall started out with a visit from Caleb's mom. She came for a week at the beginning of October. It was great to have her here. Besides giving her a chance to play with Joshua a lot, we drove around and looked at the leaves and saw some of the sights around Burlington. On the weekend we drove up to Quebec City, which was beautiful , especially with all the changing leaves. Walking around the old walled city feels just like Europe. We wandered around and looked in some stores, and of course enjoyed the French cuisine (Caleb's favorite part of the whole trip).

Caleb, Joshua, and I on the Battlefields of Abraham.
Caleb and Joshua in front of an antique store.

After Kathy left we rather quickly went back into our normal routine. Caleb has been busy studying, and keeping up on elders quorum. He is really enjoying his classes, but also really looking forward to the clerkships which are coming up soon. He signed up to take the first licensing exam on Feb 20, then in March will start rotations in the hospital. He has two weekends off at the end of this course which has been absolutely wonderful. We cherish the little bit of free time we have together, and try to always make the most of it. Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch to get Joshua's first pumpkin. It was so exciting to go as a little family together. We even went through the corn maze, which was 3 miles long! It was really fun and we got a little lost, but eventually found our way out. This weekend we are going to a haunted forest, and the ward trunk or treat party. Joshua is going to be a cute little pumpkin. I am so excited that I already tried his costume on him three times! I am still not sure what Caleb and I are going to dress up as, but I am working on it.Caleb and Joshua picking out pumpkins.
Lost in the corn maze.
Our little pumpkin.

Besides that I am just doing my normal routine. I have been working hard on the upcoming primary program. I have still been running or walking everyday with the other med student wives. I have been making good friends with all the other wives with babies, and really enjoying the socializing. I love being with Joshua everyday and watching him learn and grow. Everyday is a new experience. He laughs all the time now and loves when I sing and dance with him. He is such a funny, happy little boy, but also loves to explore and figure out new things. We went to the Doctor the other day and Joshua is 15lbs 7 oz and 27 inches long. He is only 4 1/2 months old and already wearing 9 or even 12 month clothes! He is doing really great. We did learn that he probably has some allergies, so now I'm trying to go without any dairy, eggs or nuts, which makes up about 90% of my diet. That is a new adventure for me to figure out, but if nothing else it may help me loose the last of my baby tummy :). Luckily he should grow out of any of these allergies by a year, so we keep our fingers crossed. We hope everything is going great for all of you. We love you and miss you all, and love to hear from you.
Joshua 4 months

Joshua's New Tricks

Watch Joshua roll over.

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Joshua loves to eat his rings and talk.

The New Addition

Well I finally decided to start a family blog so that we could stay connected with everyone and share some pictures of Joshua.

We have had an extremely eventful summer. It started out with the birth of our wonderful little boy Joshua. We were so excited to have him come and have been loving being with him. We love him so much, he is a very happy wonderful little boy. Four weeks after he was born we went to California for three weeks and blessed Joshua. Then we went to Utah and Caleb got lasik surgery, so far it has helped him a lot with his studying. It was a busy summer but we had a lot of fun visiting all the family, especially since it was Caleb and I's last chance for a Summer break from school. Now we are home and have been getting back into the groove of daily life.

I stay home with Joshua all day and absolutely love it. I really can't imagine doing anything more fun than hanging out with Joshua everyday. It is the most fulfilling, and hardest thing I think I have ever done. He is my little buddy and does everything with his mommy, he really loves to be snuggled, and is completely content all day as long as he is in my arms. Lately he has found his voice and loves to coo and talk to me, I think he really thinks he is talking. His latest and greatest trick is rolling over, he rolls all over the place. Especially while he is getting his diaper changed. We go for a walk/run every morning, as I try to get back in shape, Joshua loves his jogger and sleeps. The leaves are all changing so we have been going on adventure walks by lake Champlain and apple picking. Joshua is very healthy and growing very long very fast, he is already wearing 6 month clothes! It is going way to fast!

Caleb is working hard in school, and as the Elders quorum president. He tries to spend as much time as possible at home, which Joshua and I are always grateful for. He has just a few more classes before he takes the Step One National Board exams in February. After the boards he will be a third year med-student!! Then he will begin his rotations, and get to work with real patients. Supposedly rotations are a little easier on our family life because he won't have to study as much, but will be on call. He is really enjoying school, and loves being a dad. Joshua loves to hang out with his daddy and play with him.

So we are loving our life, and watching our little family grow.

Everyone been asking how my tummy is growing, just a month to go! This is Mother's Day. Caleb made me a great picnic and took me to my favorite park on the lake.

We haven’t written to everyone for a while, so we thought that a note was due now that the winter is over and everything (including the sun) is coming out of
hibernation. For a while we were wondering if the Vermont winter was going to live up to its’ reputation. January was a pleasantly warm month (relatively) and the weather was looking up by the time Valentine’s day rolled around. For a few days we’d been hearing predictions of a good sized storm, but had doubts about it actually materializing. We woke up that Wednesday morning to fresh snow falling, fairly heavily. By lunch we had enough that the university cancelled classes and sent everyone home. By 4 pm the snowplows all gave up and the busses shut down. By that night we had over a foot of new snow outside our house. We woke up Thursday morning to find over two feed of new snow outside of our apartment. We had to literally dig out our front door. I don’t think I had ever seen that much snow outside of my house before. Some of the cars in the parking lot had so much snow blown onto them that there wasn’t more than an antenna sticking out.

Normally I’d be ecstatic for a snow day, but this one was a bit different. My mom was coming in to town for the school’s white coat ceremony. She was originally supposed to land in Burlington Wednesday evening (remember, right after the plows gave up and the busses went home…). Obviously the weather interfered with those plans somewhat, so she ended up spending the night in Ohio. My mom had to fly into Manchester NH (about 3 hours south) that morning, so we dug our car out of the snow and braved the roads down. It was quite an adventure.

That Friday we had the white coat ceremony, a tradition at the medical school representing the start of hands-on patient care. Along with the quintessential stethoscope, the white coat is one of the symbols of the medical profession. The meeting was held on campus in the Ira Allen chapel, where graduation will be three years from now. We heard from the dean and some other prominent members of the faculty about professionalism, ethics, and the process of becoming a physician. It was a very well done event, and very meaningful. I was especially glad that my mom was able to fly out and attend, despite one of the heaviest snowstorms they’ve had here in recent years.

All the guys at White Coat.

After white coat Kathryn took a break from the weather and went to California for her Birthday and the birth of Elizabeth's third baby Ezra. Everyone drove up for a birthday party and to see Braddock John and Kimberlee's third. It was so much fun and Elizabeth's baby, Ezra, finally came two weeks after his due date!! It was great to be there for the birth, and to be able to help her out for a week before heading back to the snow.

Elizabeth, Elijah and I with the cake. Grandma holding Braddock with Elijah and Isaac.

Travis, John, Elizabeth and I, we're Just missing Billy. The two pregnant ones.

Ezra

Now, of course, the most important thing going on for us is getting ready for our baby. We went in right after the holidays for an ultrasound and found out that we’re having a boy. I was hoping that would make it easier to figure out names, but we still haven’t made much progress. Either way, don’t worry, because we decided not to divulge anything too specific until after he’s born and we officially decide. Kathryn has been feeling pretty good through most of the pregnancy, which has been a blessing. She’s still substitute teaching several days a week, and finishing up all the projects on her list before the baby gets here (including reupholstering our couch and arm chairs). We’re gradually getting everything taken care of for the baby, and are of course very excited.

Next Friday I have my final in my current class (Nutrition, Metabolism and Gastrointestinal Systems), then we have a week off for spring break before I start my last class this year, Neuroscience. It’s hard to believe I’m almost finished with my first year of medical school. Some times I feel like I haven’t learned very much yet, other times I can’t believe how much material we’ve covered. The baby is due during the last week of Neuroscience, which will be an exciting way to kick off the summer. Obviously, there are a lot of plans that we can’t make for sure at this point, but after Kathryn and the baby recover, we’re planning on heading out to California for the last few weeks of the break. We miss you all, and are looking forward to seeing many of you this summer.