Happy 24

Saturday was my birthday. Jeremy did a good job of making it a fun one. He made a delicious lunch of foccacia bread turkey sandwiches, a mango and nectarine salad, and chilled juice. He is the sandwich king! That afternoon we had a water balloon fight. Cambrie wasn't sure what to think when she popped a balloon all down her shirt, but had fun popping one over daddy's head. Our party was pretty low-key with cake and presents. I had requested a Jell-O cheesecake and couldn't help but munch on it before we blew out the candles, (hence the missing corners...) We were also two candles short so we had to use toothpicks to make up for it. My birthday/mother's day present was a new road bike. I fell in love with road bikes back in college when I rode my dad's 40-year-old bike around campus and I've wanted one ever since. I'm excited to use it for my triathlon in three weeks! I've decided 24 doesn't feel much different than 23, but it was fun to celebrate anyway. Thanks Jeremy for making it a good day.

Scissors

Cambrie longingly looks at the scissors every time I pull them out. She's been really good about not using them, running with them, or destroying anything. But today she kept asking for Cambrie's scissors. I'm not sure if she has used them at the YMCA or where she got the idea, but I decided it was a good one. We used some rebate money today and got Cambrie her own pair. She was so excited and caught on how to use them really quickly. Let's just hope she's still good about not using them without mommy, running with them, or destroying anything.

Cancun

Being in Cancun for a week and a half automatically creates a lot of stories to share. I don't think you really want a play-by-play of what we did every day, but here are some highlights.

For the first couple of days, Cambrie was up with the sun at 6:00. Why sleep in when there's a beach to play on all day right? This first morning she was content to go exploring and play "dentist" on the lounge chairs. We got to go para sailing! That was super fun. I was expecting more of a rush, but it's actually quite calming. I couldn't get a very good picture of our faces, so the parachute will have to smile for us.

Cambrie's favorite part of the whole trip was playing in the sand. She loved putting the sand in her bucket then dumping it on people's feet to hide their toes. She also had a blast smashing towers. We literally couldn't build them fast enough. When we decided to build a replica of Chichen Itza, we could barely keep her off of it long enough to finish.

Nana and Papa chilling in the shade.

This particular drink was a virgin Cabana. It was probably the most requested drink of the week. We just couldn't get enough of the Pina Coladas, Banana Milkshakes, Strawberry Daiquiris...yum.

Our resort had a really pretty pond on its property with stairs leading down to it. Cambrie loved sitting on the bottom steps and dangling her feet in the water. Jeremy loved it because one night he and his siblings went exploring and found glow-in-the-dark fish and a large lime-green octopus just hanging out. I can't believe he didn't come wake me up to show me! It seemed pretty neat.

We managed to find a small branch to attend on Sunday. We thought it started at 10:00. When we arrived they were singing a song, Jeremy and I just assumed it was the opening hymn. When the song was over, we bowed our heads, closed our eyes and waited for the prayer. The prayer seemed to last forever! Cambrie was losing patience and started squawking. Jeremy and I kept telling her to be quiet. I couldn't believe how long this prayer went on. And since it was in Spanish I had no idea what was being said. Fifteen minutes later I open my eyes and realize that no one else has their eyes closed. It was a talk. We just looked like fools with our eyes closed and trying to keep our wiggling toddler from moving or speaking. Oh boy. Church really started at 9:00 and we had come in during the rest hymn. I'm just glad I'll never see those members again. I was quite embarrassed. We also had a couple of site-seeing days. For Chichen Itza and Tulum our tour guide was Helaman. He is the branch president from Cancun and was awesome. It was really neat to see Book of Mormon history. He pointed out a lot of the symbolism that other tour guides missed and really helped us gain an appreciation and testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. If anyone is going down to Cancun, I have his business card. He (or his nine siblings) will give you an excellent tour. We visited Chichen Itza (it was completely empty, super awesome for pictures).

Coba (it isn't as excavated and you can still climb to the top).

And Tulum (beautifully situated on the coast).

I guess my "highlight reel" was a little long. Sorry, but there's just so much to share!

We're home

Technically we're home from Cancun (yea! ... boo!) We had a blast but it will take a couple of days to really "be home" and get back in the swing of things. You'll get a post soon about our adventures, but here's a sneak peek :)

ABC

I'm not sure what got Cambrie so excited about the alphabet, but she loves letters. We have some foam letters that she pulls out every day so we can play with them. She's got a great memory and remembers almost anything I tell her (scary I know). Just so I remember in the future, here is a list of letters that she can identify about 80% of the time. I figure that's pretty good.

a
b
c-she'll tell you, "C is for Cambrie!"
d-"Is for Ducky!"
e-"Is for elephant!"
i
k
m-"Is for mommy!"
n-she sometimes calls it a tunnel
o
s- "Is for snake!"
y

It's a pretty strange list, but I'm just glad she's excited about it. When she sings her alphabet she stops after P, I'm not really sure why... Jeremy and I decided that the world would be pretty funny without those letters, particularly R, S, and T. "STAR" would read, "A." "TIRED" would just be, "IED." See what I mean. We need to teach her that the last letters of the alphabet are important too. They must be feeling so neglected!

Mindy

My family wanted a dog when we were young,
One that we could play with and have lots of fun.

We bought our sweet puppy Mindy that we could love and adore.
But apparently I was allergic, so I just didn’t sit on the floor.

Her speckled belly was a great one to rub.
And she looked like a drowned rat when fresh out of the tub.

As a little Shit-Tzu she thought she was tough,
And tried to scare away big dogs with her mighty “Ruff!”

The chickens we had were harder to beat,
For the rooster would chase her with his sharp pointy feet.

Whenever I came home we would both sit and howl,
Until our throats and ears told us we were much too loud.

Visitors were greeted in a similar way.
She’d bark, wag her tail and hope on their lap to lay.

The front green couch was her favorite bed,
Where she slept always hoping we’d come scratch her head.

Mindy looked so great in fresh new bandanas.
We didn’t even know she was pregnant with her one puppy, Panda.

She had some strange perks that I can’t help but recall;
Such as scratching the laundry bins at the end of the hall.

To roll over she first had to spin around,
Until she got enough momentum then she’d fall to the ground.

She wasn’t very bright and easy to trick,
And at the call, “Go get it!” would chase an imaginary stick.

But my sneezing and wheezing wouldn’t go away.
In fact it kept getting worse each day.

My dad had to list her on KSL.com,
To hopefully find her a new dad and mom.

A nice couple called to take her away.
Now Mindy has another dog friend to play with each day.

Now all that’s left is to sit here and cry.
Wish her a happy home, and tell her “Good-bye.”

Farewell Picnic

This is a hard time of year because it's time to say good-bye to our friends who are done and moving on! It's bitter-sweet. We're excited to see them pass all of their boards and be done with the clinic work, but it's so sad to see them leave. This summer we are losing the Bohns, Dobsons, Millards, Wehmanns, and Ritters. We wish them the best of luck and hope they know how much we will miss them! Here is one last group picture taken on Saturday at our Farewell Picnic.

Kehler's Gym

Yesterday while the guys went golfing, the ladies decided to take the girls to Kehler’s Gym. They have gymnastics classes for kids, but we went for the Fun Factory. Basically picture a giant McDonald’s Play-place that encourages the parents to crawl around with the kids. I had a blast chasing Cambrie around. There are a couple of ball pits, slides, netting to crawl up and trough, a zip-line, and lots of tunnels. Cambrie had a good time in the tunnels and on the slides, but some of the apparatuses were a little too big and intimidated her. The ball pits made her the most nervous. She couldn’t crawl through them very well without sinking to the bottom, so I held her hand as she crawled through to get to the slide. She loved chasing Hailey, but seeing as Hailey is a year-and-a-half older than her, Cambrie had a hard time keeping up and kept getting left behind. Ask her now what she did at the playground and she’ll tell you, “Follow Hailey!”

Walking across the bridge.

Ashlyn and Cambrie were looking for their friends down below.

She wasn't sure exactly what to do the with giant ball, or how to keep her little feet from slipping through the netting!

She loved crawling under the posts.

The longer we stayed the more crowded it became so we left after we’d been there just under a couple of hours. We had a blast and I’m glad Cambrie lets me play with her!

Discipline

All of you who have ever raised a toddler know what fun it is when they break the rules on purpose just to see what you'll do. We're trying to institute time out for bad choices. This is the conversation I just heard between Jeremy and Cambrie:

J: (to a screaming and non-cooperative daughter) "Cambrie you need to let me put on your jammies. Hold still."
C: "No."
J: "If you don't listen to daddy and hold still I'll have to put you in time out."
C: (stops crying and says excitedly) "Time out!"
J: "Time out is a bad thing. You don't want to go to time out."
C: "I want time out. Please!"

Hmm...something isn't quite getting through to her is it? Maybe we should try a different approach...

Just in Case

In case you have been super bored with the lack of new excitement on our blog, I'm just letting you know that all is well. Cambrie and I have been in Utah for the last week helping my parents get their house ready to put on the market. We have been painting, installing floors, dejunking, and packing up as much as possible. It's been a work trip, but we've still enjoyed seeing our families. We'll be back in Philly on Monday, ready to enjoy the humidity and being home!