Maria Starts 2nd Grade/Carly's World Changes

Maria started the 2nd grade the end of August.  She is in Mrs McEneaney's class and enjoying the year.  She has met some good friends and is doing well in school.  Carly was a little lost for a few weeks, but we have found somewhat of a routine and she is starting to enjoy her time with mom while Maria is at school.  Also there is a large gymnastic center not far from our house that both girls have started going to.  They both love it and are doing quite well.

Maria ready for her first day of 2nd grade.

Carly has started to "really" like to help in the kitchen.  She is a great helper I might add.

She also enjoys practicing everyday.  She will go to the piano, get out a piano lessons book and practice for a good 15 minutes.  She then asks for the ukulele and practices it for several minutes.  If CJ is home he will usually sit and practice with her.

Carly on the beam at gymnastics.  I don't have any of Maria because we are not allowed in the gym while they practice, and I haven't gotten any through the windows.  

Hello Maryland

We made it to Maryland! We have seen a lot since being here and are enjoying all that Maryland and DC have to offer.

CJ and Carly along the Potomac on the 4th of July.

Maria and her friend Blythe McCammon watching the  fireworks.  

Carly and Maria at the Lincoln Monument.

Maria and I in front of the White House

Maria holding the Washington Monument in the palm of her hand.

Maria and Carly in front of the museum at Gettysburg.

We rented a house in Olney, Maryland and moved in the first week of July.  It has a pool and we pretty much lived in it all summer. 

Spring 2012

Spring brought Carly's 2nd birthday, a lot of horse riding, a humanitarian trip to Peru for CJ, Easter, and a somewhat shocking announcement from the Air Force that we would be moving in June.

Carly turns two.  The smile says it all. This girl is special and life would be a little  boring without her.

A family horse ride on Antelope Island.  We lived about 15 minutes from here so we rode here quite often.

Maria and CJ riding around the house.

CJ had the opportunity to be a part of a humanitarian medical trip to Peru.  A doctor that we knew in Turkey has family in a mountain village in Peru.  Each year volunteers go and provide healthcare for them for a couple of weeks.  This doctor wanted a Pharmacist to go with them and contacted CJ to see if he would be interested.  He was interested so he went the first part of April and was gone for about two and a half weeks.  He had a great time and it was a very memorable experience.

While CJ was in Peru the girls and I celebrated Easter.  We didn't do much, but of course they got new church dresses to wear on Easter Sunday.

We also found out in the Spring that we would be moving in June.  We knew it was a possibility, but thought that with all the budget cuts we would be staying in Utah for awhile longer.  We found out that CJ would be going back to school to get a Masters in Healthcare Administration and Policy, and that he would be doing so at USHUS in Bethesda Maryland. We were a little sad to leave, but said our good-byes and were gone on our next adventure.

Goodbye Daisy. She was unable to come with us.  She was taken in by a family that lived near us in Hooper and we still get updates on her.  She is happy and adjusting.  We sure do miss her though, especially Carly.

Goodbye friends.  Maria had a little going away party.  She was sad to leave these cute friends of hers. 

Goodbye house.  This house felt like home to me,  and I will miss this house very much.  

Hello cross country road trip.  We drove out to Maryland and hit every Cabelas and Bass Pro Shop along the way.  We went through a lot of quarters at Bass Pro on the shooting game.

We hit Sandusky, Ohio and were in need of a break so we stayed a few days at Cedar Pointe.  It is a huge amusement park and was just the break that we needed.

October-January 2011/2012

CJ was at a work conference over Halloween so the girls and I were on our own.  We headed out early to do our trick or treating so that we could be home to hand out candy.  Maria enjoys handing out candy and seeing everyones costumes more than trick or treating herself.  Carly however didn't want to stop getting the candy.

A cute little Dorothy and Minnie Mouse.

Christmas was pretty low key.  My parents spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us.  Michael and Maddox joined the party Christmas afternoon.  It was nice to spend it with family.  We then attended Eyre and Anderson Christmas parties.

Maria and Daisy in her Christmas sweater in front of the just decorated tree.

There was also some time spent on the ski slopes for CJ and Maria and in the ski lodge for Carly and I.  We (CJ mostly) spent some time in the mountains on the snow machines.

Catching Up

Not that to many people follow this blog but I do apologize to the few that do. There has been a lot that has happened this summer and blogging has taken the back seat. I will catch you up now though. The big news of the summer was we bought a house. I feel like such a grown up! It is in Hooper Utah and we love it. It is on an acre with a barn and pasture so we are trying to fill it up. We have two horse (Mitchy and Gennie) and a goat (Bob) in there now and CJ is working on some building plans for a chicken coop. It has been fun to have something that we can do what we want with. CJ has spent some time in the mountains this summer and has enjoyed it. We have been to a few family reunions, Lagoon, Cherry Hills, Swimming, and Maria had a birthday and has now started first grade. It has been a very productive summer but like always went by way to fast. Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. Okay here's a lot of pictures so pace yourself.

Maria started taking piano lessons and had her first piano recital. She was very nervous. She played Five Fat Turkeys and did a great job. After playing she just sat at the piano because she didn't want to have to get up and make eye contact with anyone. Her piano teacher finally went up and escorted her back to us. I was so proud of her. After everyone was done playing their pieces the teacher gave them all a medal and a treat. Maria was glad that it was over.

Maria had a dance recital at an outdoor theater. It was a beautiful night but it was quite long. I thought I had packed enough snacks for Carly, but we had to ration towards the end. She did like to be in the "big girl" chair, but watching the dancing not so much.

Maria doing one of her routines. I know I'm the mom but she does have the best form.

Maria after the performance.

Carly at Natural Corrals during the Eyre reunion. We had a great time unfortunately we did not take any photos but this one. It sure is a cute one though.

A guy CJ works with is a photographer on the side. We went out to Antelope Island and had him take some pictures of us. He is a very skilled photographer but we did not prove to be very good subjects. I love the ones of the girls, but the ones with me in them that I liked were hard to come by. Here are a few of my favorites.

Maria got Adele tickets for her birthday. She was doing a show in Salt Lake in August and Maria loves her music so her and her dad went. They both loved it and had a great time. CJ didn't see any other 6 year olds there, but luckily for us Adele kept it very clean. Thank you Adele we love you even more.

Maria and myself on one of the rides at Cherry Hill.

Carly enjoying the kiddy pool at Cherry Hills.

Carly and Daisy. Daisy sure is good to Carly. Daisy lets Carly do whatever she wants to do to her. She has yet to get fed up with her.

Carly being Carly.

A golden trout. There are only a few lakes that have them and the trip to the Wind Rivers was to fish this little beauty.

Jared on the trail in the Wind Rivers. It was a epic trip according to CJ's boss. I don't know if Jared would agree or not, but CJ was sure glad that he came with him. We owe Jared and Carla big time. CJ really enjoyed it and would agree with his boss about it being epic for more than one reason.

Maria out with Mitchy and Bob. She loves being out there until it comes time for doing any work with them. I have to remind myself that she is only 6.

Standing in front of Shell Falls in the Big Horn Mountains. Very impressive and powerful. It was on our way home from the Anderson reunion so we are looking a little tired.

Chad and Stephanie were Carly's second parents at the Anderson and Eyre Family Reunions. She loves to ride on four wheelers so anytime someone went to get on the four wheeler she would give them a smile. Chad and Stephanie never could resist.

So Clair and Jen have made a homemade water slide in their back yard. We went on the fourth of July for the parade and a backyard barbecue and the girls had to try out the slide. Here is a video of Carly being thrown down it by her dad while her mom videoed the whole thing. In our defense she would get up from doing it and say "again". We were only granting our daughters wishes.

Ogden Marathon

CJ and I ran the Ogden Marathon on May 21st. It was perfect weather and a very scenic route. Training has been quite hard. Our Saturdays have been consumed with running or watching the girls while the other runs. I think we were both happy for race day to final come. We ran it in 4 hours 38 minutes and 11 seconds. We were hoping to get under 4 hours 20 minutes, but were pleased to finish close to that. It was really nice to run with CJ and will be something that I will remember always. There was about 12 people that CJ works with in the pharmacy that ran either the marathon, half marathon, or the 5K so we had Michael make us some shirts. They had Hill Drug Runners on the front and our motto on the back. "Start slow then taper off." We got a lot of comments throughout the race on them. We also had a lot of supporters there cheering for us. It gave us a little boost whenever we saw them. We are both thinking we will do another one so it must not have been that bad.

About mile ten (I think).

The finish line.

After the race with Maria. Carly was there also, but I'm not sure why she isn't in the picture.